All This Time
by AnglcDmn1986
Summary: While cleaning up after a mess Matt and Jeremy made, Elena discovers secret compartment under the couch. Thanks to a Gilbert device, she's now back in the 1860's-Wait, what? D/E and S/K. Post S4/E9. Time travel fic, but I felt the need to add my own twist. Co-Written with Taaroko.
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Just toying with the characters.

Hey everyone!

I've been _dying _to write a _Vampire Diaries_ story. This fic is a result of me having too many ideas to compartmentalize at once and just needing to _write _so I can go back to working on my original fiction. I am by no means new to writing fanfiction. A lot of my stories are for _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_. LOL I even put two of my Buffy fics on pause so I could write this. :)

I must also give a shout out to my beta, Taaroko. Thanks sweetie! You did an excellent job. She helped me title the fic, and smooth out a few rougher edges of the plot.

Let me know what you think!

* * *

We wrote our names in blood

But I guess you can't accept that the change is good

It's good, it's good

_Ignorance, Paramore_

* * *

Chapter One

"_Damon, will you please at least just tell me how you think Jeremy is doing yourself?" _

Elena angrily glared at her phone ten minutes later. She knew damn well Jeremy was doing fine, and they were trying to find a _sane _way to complete his mark without him completely losing himself in the process. She just wanted to know what Damon thought.

She still had no text messages. It was frustrating her. She wanted to drive back out to the cabin and confront Damon herself, but thanks to him revoking the sire bond, she couldn't seem to bring herself to get into her car.

Elena felt tears sting her eyes. She knew it was for the best; she hadn't been able to admit that to herself before, but she could now. She was falling in love with Damon, but she didn't want to be trapped doing everything he told her to do for the rest of eternity.

When her phone started to ring, she snatched it up without glancing at the screen. "Damon?"

"No… it's me," said Stefan's voice.

Elena felt an overwhelming need to throw her phone against the wall. Instead, she clenched her hand around it tighter. The plastic groaned underneath the stress. "What do you want, Stefan?"

"I thought I would see how you're doing. Damon told me he told you to go home, and he revoked the—"

"I'm fine," Elena said.

"If you're fine, why has no one seen you at school today?"

Oh. Yeah. It was Monday. She probably should have gone to school today. Elena had been all ready to go. Her hair still smelled fresh from her shampoo, a hint of lavender lingering there. She had on fresh clothes, and her bag sat at the foot of the bed.

"I didn't feel like seeing anyone," Elena said.

"Listen, if it's because of what happened with Damon—"

"It's not, Stefan. I just didn't feel well."

"That's crap, and you know it. You're a vampire, Elena. That doesn't work anymore."

Elena wanted to sob. She was upset that Damon wasn't talking to her, she was mad at Stefan and Caroline because they had been so against her decision to go to Damon and to be with him. Instead, she took a deep breath. She wasn't going to break down when she was on the phone with his brother.

"What do you want me to say, Stefan?"

"Caroline…told me how together you and Damon were."

Elena's phone creaked more underneath the pressure of her hand. "She can't keep anything to herself, can she? I'm going to kill her."

"So you were, then?"

Elena drew in a deep breath. "I slept with Damon, Stefan. What do you want me to say? I told you my feelings for him have grown stronger."

"You chose me," Stefan said. He sounded...defeated.

"You broke up with me," she countered. He was ready to argue with her, and she was in no mood for it. "Don't you _dare _blame my feelings for him on the fact that he's my sire. He sent me home, but I still want to be with him. I want to work things out with Damon."

Stefan sighed. "Look. I don't want to argue with you, Elena. Can I come over later to talk to you?"

"No." Elena pulled the phone from her ear and hung up. She had been ready to yell at him. She felt it was childish, but her emotions were all over the place. Damn heightened emotions.

She looked at her messages. One "missed you at school!" from Bonnie, but that was it.

Elena sighed and typed back, "I didn't feel like going today. I think I'm going to clean the house. Matt and Jeremy had a party near the TV and never cleaned it up."She hadn't come back home immediately after she and Bonnie left the cabin. Bonnie had asked her for some one on one girl time and Elena had been happy to oblige.

She'd been pissed when she saw the spilled cereal, popcorn, and scattered candy wrappers, and beer cans around the couch at home, but she had been too tired to deal with it. Elena didn't want to go back to the boarding house because she knew Stefan was there. She was angrier with him than she realized. If Caroline and Stefan hadn't figured out she was sired to Damon, they might have still been able to be happy for one day together.

Elena jumped from her thoughts when her phone started to ring again. Stefan obviously didn't know how to take "no" for an answer right now. Frustrated, she ran her right hand through her hair and then threw her phone face down on the bed. It hadn't been against the wall, exactly, but it still felt good to throw it.

She stood and stretched, then went downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed the trash can and brought it into the living room. She shook her head again before she started picking everything off the floor. It felt good to do something normal. Before she knew it, she was done picking up most of Matt and Jeremy's mess. She turned on the radio. She still needed to vacuum the floor, which was covered in tiny crumbs of food.

Elena's mother had been the one to tell her she should clean whenever she was upset and needed to clear her head. Her real mother, not Isobel. Elena couldn't help but think of them both, though, when she wheeled the vacuum cleaner into the living room. She plugged it in and turned the music up louder before she turned on the vacuum.

"What the hell were you guys doing when I was gone?" she muttered as she rocked the vacuum back and forth.

She shook her head. A majority of the floor was now clean and she decided to vacuum underneath the couch in case she missed any stray pieces of food. She thought nothing of it when she picked up one end and held it there while she vacuumed some more.

That was when she heard it, a loud _thud,_ and the vacuum wouldn't move forward anymore. She pulled it back and turned it off, then tilted the couch back at an angle so she could see what happened. It looked like one of the floorboards underneath the couch had been knocked loose. Elena frowned as she got down on her knees and lifted up the floorboard. The two beside it came loose as well, and she pulled them up too.

Elena knew the founding families had secrets, and hers was no exception. After discovering the secret weapons cabinet in the lake house, she doubted anything would surprise her. Still, she hadn't expected to discover yet another Gilbert family secret beneath the living room couch. She reached into the hole in the floor and pulled out a small box and a few leather-bound books that looked like more Gilbert journals. She sat back on the floor with the vacuum next to her and the couch pushed farther out of the way so she could see if there was anything else underneath the floorboards. She pulled out three journals in total as well as the box, which was no bigger than her hand. The journals were from the 1860s, for sure, because she recognized Jonathan Gilbert's handwriting.

"Well, I guess I better give these to Jeremy…," said Elena, setting the journals aside. She picked up the box again and looked at it. After a few seconds, curiosity got the better of her and she opened it. Inside it on a thin piece of green fabric lay an ornate compass. Elena stared at it. It was made of silver, with a long, thin chain rolled up in the right corner of the box. Why would a compass be in a box in a secret compartment under the couch? Was it another vampire compass, like the pocket watch? It wasn't pointing toward her, so she dismissed that idea. The vampire compass was stashed upstairs in her dresser underneath her bras. She hesitated for a moment, thinking maybe she should just put everything back and forget all the secrets her family had just for one day so she could try to let herself have some normalcy. Instead, she picked up the compass. Almost the instant her fingers closed over its cool, round surface, a wave of nausea crashed over her and she felt a tight pull at her navel.

The compass clattered to the floor.


	2. Chapter Two

_Wow._ I can't believe so many people added me to alerts in one day, not to mention the favorites and the reviews. If I haven't responded to your review yet, I will do so later. I meant to earlier, but I had to work for seven hours then went right back to writing this new chapter. I _love _feedback, by the way, and I'd appreciate it if you drop me a line after this chapter too.

I must thank my beta/backseat writer, Taaroko, again. I say backseat writer because we just spent the past seven hours _after _I got done working talking about the plot/working out how I'm going to write the story. You are fantastic, honey! Especially since this chapter frustrated the hell out of me since I wanted to write all the other parts first! (Alas, I'm far too anal to do so.)

Without further ado, I give you the next chapter.

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Chapter Two

Something was digging into Elena's elbow. It seemed she had landed very heavily on the ground somewhere outside. She opened her eyes. It was nighttime. What had happened? Had she been kidnapped again? The last thing she remembered was cleaning her living room floor because her little brother and childhood friends were slobs. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked around. The thing digging into her elbow had been the corner of an old-fashioned house that she'd never seen before, though the forest surrounding it looked the same as the forest around Mystic Falls.

"Master Gilbert, Miss Pearl is here to see you."

Elena gasped. Those names. It couldn't be… What was going on?

"Miss Pearl! It's so wonderful to see you."

So she _had_ heard correctly. Pearl? As in _the _Pearl? Elena jumped to her feet and edged around the side of the house as quietly as she could until she found a window. It wasn't possible—Pearl was dead. Uncle John had killed her a year ago. The voice of the Gilbert man wasn't at all familiar.

Elena stood beside the window and listened hard.

"Mr. Gilbert, how have you been?"

"Very well, thank you, Miss Pearl."

Feeling increasingly bewildered, Elena peered cautiously inside. Sure enough, it was Pearl, but she was wearing a dress that looked like what the women in _Gone with the Wind _wore and the man she was speaking to—Elena pulled back and leaned heavily against the wall beside the window, her heart hammering wildly. She recognized him from an old photograph Jeremy had shown her, though his resemblance to her father was much more striking in person. Johnathan Gilbert.

Somehow, she'd gone back in time.

"What is this you're working on?" Pearl asked.

"Oh, just one of my newest inventions."

Elena frowned and chanced another glance inside. Johnathan was holding up the very same silver compass she'd been looking at before she found herself here. Her eyes widened. Was that how she got here? A Gilbert invention?

"How fascinating," Pearl said with a smile. She seemed genuinely interested, but Elena had bigger things to worry about, like how she was supposed to get home. She edged away from the window again, moving around the house until she reached the front, where she spotted a black man standing beside a horse.

Elena didn't think. She just ran forward and grabbed him.

"Hey there," she said. She had a second to appreciate how stupid that sounded before she felt the compulsion take hold. Trying to get her breathing under control, she lowered her voice so that Pearl wouldn't hear and said, "Don't be afraid. Follow me."

The man obediently followed her into the cover of the trees, leaving the horse behind to toss his mane and paw nervously at the ground.

"Can I help you, miss?" said the man.

"Yes, um, what is the date?"

"It's the fifth of September, miss."

"What…what year?" said Elena, her mouth very dry.

"Eighteen sixty-four."

Elena felt as if her heart had dropped into her stomach. For a moment, she hoped she was dreaming, but when she dug her nails into her palms, it hurt—a lot. This was real.

"Do I, um, do I remind you of anyone?" she asked.

"Why, yes, miss. Now that you mention it, you look a lot like Miss Katherine, except for those strange clothes you're wearing. Pardon me for thinking you were her."

"It's okay," said Elena vaguely, "I get that a lot." She thought hard, trying to remember everything Stefan and Damon had told her about their past. If it was September fifth, then it was about two and a half weeks before the very first Founder's Ball…right?

"Katherine lives with the Salvatores and a girl named Emily, doesn't she?"

The man smiled dreamily. "Miss Emily is so lovely."

"Okay," said Elena, starting to feel a little better now that she had the beginnings of a plan. "After you leave with Miss Pearl, I want you to find Emily for me. Tell her to meet me in the woods behind the Gilbert house, and tell her to hurry. After you tell her, you'll forget meeting me."

She watched him walk away with a rather blank-eyed expression and sighed. Using compulsion had left a squirming feeling of guilt in her stomach, but what choice did she have? She sighed and headed deeper into the forest to wait, praying that Emily would be able to send her home before anything else happened.

* * *

"Annabelle, I do hope your mother gets back from her errand at the Gilberts' soon," said Katherine. She looked at the girl. She was such a dull, quiet thing. At the moment, she was merely sitting in the corner of her mother's apothecary, nervously fidgeting with the folds of her skirt.

"She said she wouldn't be long, Miss Pierce," said Annabelle.

"And yet, I cannot stay," said Katherine. She clapped her hands together and then turned to Emily. "It is getting so late. I can't keep Stefan waiting for me long—we'll have to do the rest of our shopping tomorrow."

"Of course," Emily said, smiling at Katherine.

Annabelle perked up suddenly, staring out the window. "Wait, Miss Pierce, I see her coming now."

Katherine pursed her lips. "Very well. Emily, won't you go see about the carriage? This should only take a moment."

"Yes, Miss Katherine," said Emily. She dropped a quick curtsey and departed. A few seconds later, Miss Pearl walked inside.

"My, my, Pearl," said Katherine, smirking, "you were at Johnathan Gilbert's a good long while."

Pearl shook her head and smiled. "He had to make an order. I simply stayed a while longer to listen to him speak of his inventions."

"Of course you did," Katherine said. "I thought I would stop by to say hello, but Emily and I have been out far too long."

"How are things at the Salvatores'?"

"Damon's leave was up today; we saw him off this morning. He won't be returning again for another few months, but I'm sure Stefan will do an admirable job of entertaining me without his brother's help. Being too young to enlist does have its advantages." Her smirk widened, but then she saw through the window that Tobias, one of Pearl's servants, had pulled Emily aside to talk. Pearl had started to say something else about her visit to the Gilberts', but Katherine focused on Tobias and Emily.

"Miss Emily, there is someone waiting for you in the woods behind the Gilbert home. She wants you to hurry."

"Forgive me, Pearl," said Katherine. "Something has come up. I will stop by tomorrow." Not waiting for an answer from Pearl, she simply waved and walked out of the apothecary.

"Who is waiting for me in the woods?" Emily asked. Emily looked to Katherine, confusion written on her face.

Tobias blinked. He suddenly looked incredibly blank. "I'm sorry, Miss Emily. It was nice to see you, but I must be getting back to my duties."

Katherine watched him walk away, her eyes narrowed. "Come, Emily. We should go find the girl who has asked for you."

"Who do you think it could be?" Emily asked as they climbed into their waiting carriage.

"I don't know, but whoever she is, she obviously doesn't have much experience with compulsion."

It only took about ten minutes to reach the Gilbert home in the carriage. Katherine had the driver stop just out of sight of the house—it wouldn't do for anyone inside to realize they were there. She and Emily made their way cautiously through the woods.

After about a minute, Katherine heard a rustle of leaves not far off. Her head snapped to the right. "Who's there?" she called.

"I—I don't want any trouble." Katherine's breath caught in her throat when a girl emerged from behind a tree. "I just need help."

Aside from the fact that she was wearing the strangest clothing Katherine had ever seen, the girl looked just like her.

* * *

Elena watched her doppelgänger nervously. She had known there would be a chance Emily would bring Katherine. The two had been very close in 1864. It was incredibly weird to see them both together now, and Elena felt very out of place in her own clothing. Why hadn't she at least thought to maybe wear a skirt today? Oh, _right. _She hadn't planned on getting sucked back into the past.

"What on _earth_ are you wearing?" Katherine asked.

"Uh, my…my underclothes," Elena invented wildly. "I was robbed on my way into town." She winced. Robbed? Seriously? That was her brilliant on-the-spot explanation to avoid the suspicion of the most conniving, manipulative vampire she'd ever met? Well, at least she wasn't human anymore, so there wouldn't be much use in Katherine handing her over to Klaus.

"Oh my," Emily said.

"You poor thing," Katherine said. "Where are you from?"

Elena blinked. Well that was unexpected. "Georgia," she said, blurting out the first place she could think of.

"What an odd coincidence," Katherine said. "So am I."

"Perhaps you two are related," said Emily, arching one eyebrow.

Something inside Elena snapped. "Look, I know this is weird and I know we look exactly alike, but I'm just really uncomfortable right now and my name is Elena and I need help." She didn't want to say anything else until she could speak to Emily alone, but she had no idea how she was supposed to get Katherine to help her, because the only times she'd helped in the present were when there'd been something in it for her. "Please?" she added weakly.

"Oh, come along, then," Katherine said as she turned around. "The carriage home is this way. We'll take you to the Salvatores', get you a dress, and then we can introduce you to everyone as my sister."

* * *

Again, I'd love to hear what you think! Drop me a review. :D


	3. Chapter Three

I'm shocked. This chapter became so much longer than I thought it would be, but I really have to thank Taaroko again for betaing. She's not only a good friend, but an incredible beta. :) I'm glad I stopped where I did! It might have ended up ten pages! As it was, I wanted to update it before work, but my rabbit distracted me and then Taaroko got a hold of it. XD

Yeah. Girl takes her job seriously. :)

I must thank all of you who have reviewed and added the story to favorites/alerts. It means a lot, and I've tried replying to all of you, but if I miss a few here or there I apologize. I think its why I'm writing so fast.

Enjoy! And please, don't forget to review.

* * *

Chapter Three

Silence fell between the three women as they got into the carriage. Katherine and Emily took their seats on one side, Elena on the other. Elena was careful not to make eye contact with either of them, keeping her gaze on her clasped hands instead. She felt relieved; she hadn't realized how afraid she was that Katherine would kill her on the spot until Katherine had inexplicably decided to take her back to the Salvatore home and pass her off as her sister instead.

"Tell me, Elena," said Katherine after the carriage lurched into motion, "how long have you been a vampire?"

Elena's head snapped up. "How did you—"

"Considering Tobias's rather moonfaced expression after he delivered your message to Emily, I can't imagine it's been more than a year," Katherine interrupted dryly.

Elena closed her mouth and grimaced. She should have realized that her inept compulsion job would be a dead giveaway to a vampire as old as Katherine. But she felt a little better when she reminded herself that as a vampire, she was safe from Klaus, and it was best that Katherine knew that from the start. She was so used to being cautious and guarded around Katherine, but was there really much use in it now? Though she doubted there wasn't some ulterior motive behind it, Katherine actually seemed friendly…for now.

"It's only been two months," she admitted finally.

"Oh my," Katherine said. "Well, are you hungry? You can't have been eating well if you were overpowered so easily by bandits."

Elena felt her face burn with the reminder of her feeble story even as panic and hunger rose up inside of her in equal force at the thought of blood. She quickly shook her head, trying to get a grip on herself. "I'm fine. I ate this morning."

"Clearly you didn't eat enough," said Katherine haughtily as she readjusted her skirts. "You're a new vampire. You should eat more."

Emily shifted uncomfortably next to Katherine, but didn't say a word.

"I usually have more access to—" Elena had been about to say "blood bags," but she caught herself and bit her lower lip. "I'm fine," she repeated, looking down at her hands again. "I don't need to eat anything right now."

"Well, you'll excuse me then," said Katherine, raising a hand to rap sharply on the roof of the carriage, which came to such a sudden stop that Elena nearly lost her seat. "Be as dainty as you like, but I simply _must_ find something to eat. I shall be back soon."

With that, she stood and flashed out of the carriage, leaving Elena alone with Emily, who, Elena realized with a start, was staring at her with the same penetrating sort of look Bonnie gave a vampire she was meeting for the first time. She felt more uncomfortable than ever, even though it had been her goal all along to find Emily. This was a perfect opportunity to speak to her without Katherine there to overhear, and yet Elena couldn't find the words for what she wanted to say. She turned to look out the window, hoping it would pass on its own.

Several minutes passed in silence, until Elena heard the scream of a man somewhere in the distance. The sound made her wince.

"You're not like the others, are you?" said Emily.

Elena shook her head. "No. I don't want to hurt anyone. Where I come from, I don't have to feed off humans. I can get the blood in bags instead."

Emily studied her for a moment. Light from the moon spilled through the window of the carriage onto the bench where Elena sat, glinting off of the stone in her ring.

"Is that a daylight ring?"

Elena nodded and twisted the ring around her finger. She hesitated before speaking, but then decided that this was as good a segue as any into the subject she really needed to talk to her about. "It was made for me by a Bennett witch. One of your descendants, actually."

Emily smiled. "As my children won't be coming into their powers any time soon, and as your 'underclothes' are far too strange for you to be from Georgia, I'm assuming this descendant is a little farther down the line, just as you are, Miss Elena."

Elena could have cried with relief. "Yeah," she said, laughing a little. "I came here from the year two thousand ten, and Bonnie Bennett has been my best friend for my whole life."

"Is she the one who sent you back to this time?" asked Emily, looking at Elena with much more warmth than she had so far. A friend of one Bennett was a friend of any Bennett, apparently. "Why did you send Tobias to find me?"

"No, it wasn't Bonnie," said Elena. "I think I activated one of Johnathan Gilbert's devices by accident. I know you're the one who spelled them to work, so I was hoping you'd be able to send me back."

Emily frowned. "What do you mean? Miss Pearl spoke to Katherine of Mr. Gilbert's latest invention, but I've never spelled anything he made."

Elena's eyes widened. "Not _yet_," she corrected faintly. She swallowed hard. "What are the chances of you being able to reverse a spell that you haven't even cast yet?"

"There is no chance, I'm afraid," said Emily sympathetically. "It must have been a powerful spell to have pulled you through time and space. Until I know the details, there will be no way for me to even attempt to send you back. Unless you know how it happened?"

"No," said Elena in despair, tears now blurring her vision. "I just picked up this old silver compass I found in a box under the floorboards in my house next to some of Johnathan Gilbert's journals, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up outside his house. I saw him show the same compass to Pearl, but—"

"A summoning spell of some kind, then," said Emily. "Likely it would have brought you directly to the compass itself, but as you are not invited into the Gilberts' home, you weren't able to make it quite that far." She looked at Elena with pity. "As soon as it is possible, Miss Elena, I swear that I will send you back to your own time." She smiled kindly. "Perhaps close enough to the time that you left that you will not be missed."

Elena couldn't help smiling back. It was very comforting to know that nobody back home would have to worry about what had happened to her. But the comforting feeling vanished almost as quickly as it had come. Everyone in twenty-ten might not have to worry about her, but here she was in the past regardless, and here she'd be stuck for probably a few months at the least.

She was going to have to blend in.

"Do you think Katherine meant it when she said she'd introduce me to everyone as her sister?" she said.

"I do," said Emily. "These last few months here in Mystic Falls have brought out a more playful side of her than I have seen before. I believe she sees the potential for a great deal of fun, having someone who looks just like her around. Still, you would be wise not to do anything to cross her. As long as you bear that in mind at all times, I think you will be safest following her charade until the time comes when I can perform the spell to send you home."

Elena closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wood of the carriage. So she'd be a houseguest of the Salvatores all over again. She wondered how that was going to work after Damon's instructions to stay away from him. And he and Stefan were still human here. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't deny that she felt a burning curiosity to know what they were like. But then something else occurred to her. Her eyes flew back open and she sat up straight again. "What if I do something that changes history?" she asked.

"Do not worry yourself over that," said Emily. "Whatever is meant to happen will happen one way or another. And, if I deem it necessary, when you are gone, I will ensure that your stay here is remembered by no one."

"But I'm a vampire, and there aren't blood bags here, so I'm going to have to feed on people to survive. What if…what if I lose control and kill someone?"

Emily leaned forward and placed a hand over Elena's, which were twisting in her lap. "If you are truly worried," she said, "I can accompany you when you hunt and ensure that you never go too far."

"Thank you," said Elena. Emily smiled again and drew back. Elena took a deep breath. "Okay. Then I think I can do this. I just…I'll just go with the flow, and everything will be fine."

Emily raised an eyebrow, but before she could reply, Katherine returned, shoving a blank-faced man into the carriage ahead of her. "Are you sure you aren't hungry, Elena?" said Katherine as she wiped blood from her mouth with a handkerchief. "I did have other plans for this one, but nutrition first."

Elena's mouth watered, but she clenched her fists and ignored it. "What other plans? Who is he?"

Katherine's expression was pure mischief. "Oh, but don't you remember him, dear sister? Joshua Martin, from Atlanta? He's the man who rescued you from the fire that killed our parents. I had no idea you survived as well, but he took it upon himself to keep searching in case there was someone to reunite you with, and now here you are!" Joshua nodded, looking very pleased with the situation. Katherine gestured for him to sit down, which he did. Then she turned to Emily. "Now, before we reach the Salvatores', Elena needs to be properly dressed. The green gown we picked up today will do, I think. Could you help her dress?"

Emily nodded. "If you'll step outside with me, Miss Elena?"

Elena made to follow her out of the carriage, but hesitated and looked at Katherine. "What do we do with my…other underclothes?"

Emily studied her for a moment. "We should burn them."

"I agree," said Katherine. "You won't be needing them."

"Okay," said Elena reluctantly. She took another step towards the door of the carriage, but had to pass Joshua in the process, and stopped, her hunger roaring up again.

This was not lost on Katherine. She studied the both of them for a moment before abruptly picking up his wrist and offering it impatiently to Elena. "Enough of this. We don't want to kill him—not before he plays his part, at least, but you should have a bite, Elena. It wouldn't do for you to, ah, lose face in front of the Salvatores because you're famished, now, would it?"

Elena hated this. Throughout Katherine's entire speech, Joshua didn't so much as flinch. She had him so thoroughly compelled he probably couldn't scream for his life if he wanted to. But the worst thing was how much she _wanted_ his blood. She could hear it pumping through his veins, and it was right there for the taking. She looked imploringly at Emily, who was still waiting outside the carriage. Emily nodded once. Elena turned slowly to face Joshua.

"Are we going to feed him blood after?" she asked, while everything in her was screaming to stop stalling. "The Salvatores…they can't see him all bloody."

Katherine smirked. "Well, then I hope you are not a messy eater, sister."

Elena barely heard her. She seized Joshua's wrist and sank her fangs into the waiting vein. The instant the blood hit her tongue, the last shreds of anything else fell away. How was it that blood could make her feel so powerful, but the creatures it came from were so fragile? She swallowed mouthful after mouthful, and while the empty feeling faded, the hunger only grew. The pulse pumping the blood to her began to weaken. Something snapped back into place in Elena's brain, and she jerked away as if she'd been burned. She stumbled backward and nearly fell out of the carriage.

"There, was that really so difficult?" said Katherine. "Go with Emily now and change while I tidy him up."

Elena numbly did as she was told. She found herself wishing Damon was with her so badly that it hurt. It had been so much easier to stay in control with him there.

"Why didn't you stop me sooner?" she asked Emily as they walked over to a cluster of trees that would serve as her dressing room.

"Do you have so little faith in yourself?"

Elena said nothing. She hated the way the bloodlust made her feel. She hated how much she liked it, and without the people she loved to be her anchor, she was terrified of herself. Why did she have to stay here? It had only been an hour or so since she arrived, but already she felt more homesick than she could stand.

Emily obligingly turned her back while Elena shucked her normal clothes and put on the pantalets and chemise that comprised the first layer of her new ensemble. Next came the corset. Elena had to brace herself against a tree while Emily did up the laces, cinching and pulling until Elena thought her insides would be squeezed out. She braced herself against the corner of the carriage as Emily pulled.

"Are you well, Miss Elena?" Emily said when a gasp of discomfort escaped her.

"It's just…much tighter than I remember." The gown Elena had worn for the parade had seemed tight, but it had been nothing compared to this. She gasped again as Emily pulled the bottom lace tight, then pulled the middle strings.

"Hmm. Well, it seems you and Katherine aren't quite as identical as you appear at first glance. Her hips are a bit fuller than yours, so I won't need to tighten it all the way for the overdress to go on."

"That's a relief!" Elena cried in exasperation. She could only take very shallow breaths as it was, and only by expanding her chest upward rather than outward as usual. So this was where the whole "heaving bosoms" thing came from. What fun.

Evidently, Katherine had been busy with more than just tidying up after Elena. At some point during the torturous corset tightening process, she must have come by and collected Elena's modern clothes, for a flickering light suddenly flared up off to the left somewhere and the smell of burning cotton reached Elena's nose. She hadn't wanted to burn those jeans. They'd been a Christmas present from Jenna a few years ago—or a hundred and forty-something years from now, but she didn't protest. Better to get rid of them now than to deal with more awkward questions later.

After the corset came a camisole, followed by an under petticoat, a pair of leather slip-on heel shoes, the hoop skirt, two over petticoats, a bodice, and at last the actual skirt. "Katherine, how should we do her hair?" asked Emily as she tied a wide green ribbon around Elena's waist to accent the green leafy pattern of the dress. Elena knew the overall effect was probably stunning, but that wasn't much comfort to her already aching ribs.

"Something simple will have to do for now. We're already going to be a little more than fashionably late for dinner as it is."

Within a minute, Emily had pulled Elena's hair into a half-ponytail, which she secured with a thinner strip of the same color ribbon as the one around her waist. "There," she said, walking around Elena to admire her handiwork. "Fit to be seen at last."

"And we'll get you your own dresses soon enough," said Katherine. "Until then, I'll let you borrow mine."

Elena nodded, not wanting to attempt a deep enough breathe to speak until she had no choice. It wasn't quite as bad as it had been at first, but that was probably just her whole ribcage losing feeling from lack of circulation.

"Well, are you coming along then? I've kept Stefan waiting far too long," Katherine said. She got back into the carriage, where Elena could see Joshua still sitting as placidly as ever.

Elena closed her eyes for a moment. She could not believe she was really doing this, but she took one glance at the fire consuming the only evidence of where she had really come from and followed Katherine back into the carriage, with Emily bringing up the rear.


	4. Chapter Four

Author's note: Hey everyone! I wanted to again thank everyone for reviewing, adding the story to favorites, and chapter alerts.

Co-Author's Note: Taaroko here! I've been promoted to co-author status, so I'm chiming in on the author's note. This fic has been so much fun to work on so far, and I'm glad you guys are enjoying it. TheLadyBlackDove and I particularly enjoyed plotting out the last scene in this chapter, for reasons that will probably become apparent to you when you read it. And the end? Well, let's just say here's where things get interesting.

* * *

Chapter Four

Elena had only been to the site of the original Salvatore mansion once, the day Stefan went back to retrieve Damon's daylight ring when she had first learned they were vampires. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since then. The place had been in ruins when she saw it. She always wondered what it had looked like—it wasn't like Damon and Stefan had pictures of the original property.

Somewhere in the process of Emily helping her into Katherine's dress, Elena had managed to wrap her mind around the fact that she was in the past. Her best friend's ancestor and Katherine Pierce were sitting across from her in a horse-drawn carriage that was taking them all to the Salvatore mansion, and she could process it without feeling like she might have some kind of emotional breakdown. Joshua Martin sat next to Elena, completely oblivious to what was going on, and Katherine and Emily fussed over Katherine's appearance.

"Pinch my cheeks," said Katherine. "They need some color in them for when Stefan sees me."

Emily did as she was asked, while Elena wondered why the hell Katherine wanted her to do that. It took her a moment to remember that Maybelline wasn't exactly a thing in 1864. "Before we get out of the carriage, is there anything I should know about the Salvatores?" Elena asked.

"Well, there is Giuseppe," Katherine said. "He's the widower and fine gentleman who so graciously offered to take me in during my time of need. He will undoubtedly be surprised to find I have a sister who didn't perish in the fire—we had another sister and a brother, incidentally, but I've never said more than that to the Salvatores, so you won't have to worry about remembering any details—but he'll believe it with just one look at you. He has two sons—Damon and Stefan. Damon is the eldest. He serves in the Confederate army. He's been home on leave for the last few weeks, but he had to return this morning. Stefan is the youngest, and I've grown quite fond of him."

Elena nodded and smoothed the fabric of her dress. Fond, indeed. She had never really believed that Katherine's love for Stefan was genuine, but the way her eyes had lit up just talking about him seemed to suggest that she'd been wrong. She wondered what Stefan felt for Katherine now. The thought of him brought back memories of that morning, and Elena had to stop herself from scowling. She was still furious with him over that phone call, and the way he just kept assuming that everything he didn't like about her was something he could_ fix_. Either it was Damon's fault and she just had to stay away from him—and the whole sire bond issue had sure validated that idea for him—, or it was because she was a vampire now, and Stefan just had to find the cure for her. It wasn't as if she was the only one who had changed. He barely resembled the Stefan she'd fallen in love with.

The carriage came to a gentle stop. Emily quickly exited first, followed by Joshua, who dutifully turned to help Katherine out before looking expectantly at Elena, hand outstretched. Trying to look like she did this every day, she accepted his hand and carefully stepped down. She probably had her new vampire coordination to thank for not falling flat on her face; this dress was rather harder to move around in than the one she'd worn on Founder's Day.

Then she noticed where they were, and her eyes widened. The Salvatore mansion was huge. It looked like a house from out of an old movie, complete with Greek columns rising to the roof over the second floor.

"Walk next to me," Katherine said. Elena moved forward, and Katherine looped an arm around one of hers. "Joseph, the footman, will announce that we've arrived, and the Salvatores will come to greet us. Then, I'll introduce you and secure your invitation into the house, Mr. Martin will say his piece, and then we'll go in to dinner."

Elena nodded, feeling nervous.

"I will come to assist you both when you are ready to retire," said Emily.

"Thank you," said Katherine, while Elena smiled weakly. Emily curtsied before turning and going inside the house. After about a minute, the door opened again to reveal a middle-aged man who had to be Giuseppe, followed by Stefan. Despite everything she had seen and what she herself was now wearing, it was still something of a shock to see Stefan with the clothing and hairstyle of this time period. His hair was longer than in the present, and wavier, and he wore a burgundy waistcoat over a white shirt with a black necktie, gray striped trousers, and black shoes. His face was shining with eager anticipation, which turned to surprise and confusion the second he saw Katherine and Elena standing there arm-in-arm.

"What's this, now?" said Giuseppe, looking amused (if incredulous), "There are two of you?"

"Yes, Mr. Salvatore," Katherine said. "This is my twin sister, Elena. Elena, this is Mr. Giuseppe Salvatore and his youngest son, Stefan. I thought my entire family perished in the fire, but Elena survived! Isn't it wonderful?"

Joshua stepped forward as if it were the most natural thing for him to do and held out a hand for Giuseppe to shake. "Mr. Salvatore, my name is Joshua Martin. I own a farm near Atlanta. I carried Miss Elena from the burning house myself, and my wife and daughter spent the next month nursing her back to health. I've been searching for any surviving family she might have had, and by God's mercy, I discovered that Miss Pierce was alive and well, and staying here with you."

Giuseppe's expression had turned to delight. "Why, it is indeed wonderful that you two have been reunited," he said. He clapped Joshua on the shoulder. "I commend you for your heroism and all your family's efforts to help in such an unfortunate situation, Mr. Martin."

"I do hope Elena can stay here with us. I couldn't bear to be separated from her again."

Was Katherine crying? Elena looked at her, stunned, as real tears fell down her face. The performance was rather moving, but it would probably look strange if it continued to be so one-sided. Calling on all the harrowing emotions of the day, Elena let out the tears she had previously held in and wrapped her arm more tightly around Katherine's. "Oh, my dearest sister," Elena said, praying she was speaking in the proper manner, "I wouldn't dream of being a burden to these fine gentlemen. Just knowing that you survived the fire too is enough; I'll manage somehow."

"Nonsense," Giuseppe said, waving his hand. "Of course you can stay, my dear. You won't be a burden at all!" He scrutinized the pair of them. "It's remarkable how alike the two of you look. Tell me, which one should I refer to as Miss Peirce?"

"We are twins, Mr. Salvatore, but Katherine is about five minutes older than I," Elena said before Katherine could answer.

Katherine sniffled, and Elena could see a hint of amusement underneath her teary façade.

"Well, I shall certainly enjoy the company of Miss Peirce and Miss Elena," Stefan said with a smile for both of them, though his gaze lingered on Katherine.

"I look forward to spending time with the people in my sister's life," said Elena. "Are you sure you have enough room for me?"

"Certainly!" said Giuseppe. "The room next to Damon's—my eldest son's—should do perfectly. It's right across the hall from Miss Pierce's room, and I'm sure you want to be as close to your sister as possible."

"Oh, yes, that would be lovely!" said Elena. "Thank you!"

"Come on in now, dinner has been ready for almost twenty minutes," Giuseppe said. "You are welcome to join us too, Mr. Martin; I feel it's the least I can do to repay your kindness to Miss Elena."

"Thank you, Mr. Salvatore," said Joshua, and they all headed inside.

"It's a pity that Damon couldn't be here to welcome you as well, but duty called him back this morning," said Stefan.

"He's fighting for the Confederacy," Giuseppe added proudly.

Elena's stomach knotted and twisted uncomfortably. She missed Damon so much and desperately wanted to find out what he was like in this time, but until she got used to being in 1864, it was probably for the best that he wasn't here, especially if she was going to be sleeping in the room next to his.

Elena didn't focus much on the dinner. The food was delicious, especially the turkey served as the main course, but she couldn't really enjoy it when it was taking nearly all of her concentration to not let her lack of Civil War era etiquette shine through. She watched Katherine closely and tried to mimic her in everything she did, and she only spoke when someone asked her a question directly. Katherine ate primly, taking delicate little bites. Elena quickly discovered that there was a more practical reason than politeness for this—at one point, she slipped up and took a more normal sized bite of potatoes, and for a moment, she almost felt like she wasn't going to be able to get it down. The damn corset constricted _everything._ Very quickly, she reached the point where she couldn't eat another bite, no matter how small.

"Well, I'm getting a bit tired," Katherine announced.

"So early?" said Stefan, his brow furrowing in concern. "You're not feeling ill, I hope?"

"I'm tired as well," Elena piped up. "It's been a very emotional day for Katherine and me." Follow Katherine's lead—or try to. It was Elena's new mantra.

"Of course, ladies," Giuseppe said. "We'll let you go so that Miss Elena can get settled in her room."

"I might join her there tonight," said Katherine, smiling, "Tired or not, we still have so much to talk about."

Giuseppe smiled indulgently at the two young ladies, and Stefan jumped up from his seat to pull Katherine's chair out for her. Katherine looked down. _Is that a blush? _Elena wondered. Her eyes stayed on Katherine as Stefan hurried around to pull her chair out as well. Yes, Katherine was actually _turning red._ This woman was so much different than the one who would try to make her life miserable a hundred and forty-five years from now. It was incredibly strange. Stefan offered an arm to each of them and escorted them out of the dining room and up the stairs, at the top of which he bade them goodnight.

Once they were in her new room and the door was closed behind them, Katherine burst out laughing. "Five minutes older? Really, Elena?"

Elena was turning red herself now. "It was the first thing which came to mind. I was nervous."

"Well it was brilliant!" said Katherine, still laughing hard.

Elena found herself laughing too, but then she winced and put a hand over her stomach. "Ugh, I don't know how much more I can take of this corset."

Katherine looked at her sympathetically and then walked behind her. "There's no reason we have to wait for Emily," she said, beginning to undo the buttons on the overdress. While she worked, Elena looked around the room for the first time. It was at least three times the size of her bedroom at home, and was furnished with a large four-poster bed, a massive armoire, and a writing desk. A white cotton nightgown had been laid out on the bed.

The dress came off much more quickly than it had gone on. As soon as the corset was loosened, Elena gratefully filled her lungs to their greatest capacity.

* * *

Elena was back at Mystic Falls High, where a large banner reading "Senior Prom 2011" hung over the entrance of the school. Everyone was starting to head to their classes, but she was determined to find Damon. She knew he was lurking somewhere around here, because he'd said he was getting them tickets to the Prom. She went inside, searching for a hint of his black hair amid the press of students, but with little success. After a minute or two, she saw Caroline standing by her locker, looking just as pretty as ever in a pink sundress and with her hair pulled up into a sock bun, and she quickly made her way over to her.

"Have you seen Damon?" she asked.

"You don't need to find Damon." Elena turned and saw Stefan standing there. He held out a rabbit for her. It was small and white except for a tuft of grey fur between its eyes, and had big floppy ears. "You need to eat this."

"No, Stefan!" said Caroline indignantly, before Elena could react. "You can't eat Flopsy!" She used her vampire speed to snatch the rabbit away from him and cuddled it close to her. "There, there, Flopsy," she cooed, running her fingers gently over the quivering creature's ears. "You're safe, sweetie. I won't let the big bad vampire hurt you."

Stefan shot Caroline an annoyed look. "Elena _has_ to eat Flopsy. She'll never learn the kind of control I have if she doesn't eat wild animals."

Caroline glared at him. "Flopsy _isn't_ a wild animal. He's a gourmet bunny you bought from a _pet store_. Don't listen to him, Elena. You should just drink blood bags."

"No she shouldn't!" Stefan cried. "What if she can't control it?"

"Well, we don't want her to become a _ripper_, do we?" said Caroline. "I can only be Lexi 2.0 for so many people, you know!"

Elena glanced around anxiously, but nobody else seemed to have noticed what they were talking about. "Look, you guys, this is all meaningless. I have to find Damon, he's supposed to take me to Senior Prom." With that, she walked off, leaving Stefan glaring at Caroline, who was making kissy noises at the bunny as she snuggled it up to her face.

She wandered around the school until it felt like she'd been over every inch of it, but there was still no sign of Damon. Eventually, she found herself in the Grill. Maybe he was here instead. She saw Jeremy and Tyler playing pool over in the corner while Bonnie and Caroline watched them, giggling, and Matt was busy bussing tables in the middle of the dining room. "Hey, Matt," she said, walking up to him, "is Damon here?"

"I don't think so," said Matt. "But if you're hungry…"

He held out his wrist, but Elena batted it away impatiently. "There's no time for that! I have to find Damon." Starting to get frustrated, she turned and left the restaurant. She hadn't gotten far down the street when someone caught her by the arm. It was Stefan again.

"Elena, you can't see Damon," he said. "You're supposed to be breaking the sire bond."

"But he promised to take me to the Prom!" she protested.

"No, Elena," said Stefan angrily, "you're going to the Prom with me!"

"Let go of me!" said Elena, tearing her arm from his grasp. Before he could stop her, she ran, not caring which way she went as long as it was away from Stefan.

When she stopped, she found herself on Wickery Bridge. She looked down at her daylight ring. It was dark now, but sunrise was coming soon. She took the ring off and examined it closely. She wondered if it was made of real silver, then chastised herself. Of course it was real. She brought it right up to her face so she could study the lines of sodalite and pyrite that crisscrossed the stone like veins. She wondered if Damon had picked it out for her.

"I never wanted this life for you." Elena dropped the ring in surprise and spun around. It was Isobel.

"Why not?" said Elena. "It was good enough for you. And maybe this wouldn't be my life if you had kept me."

"Oh, but I would have never been a good mother." Isobel sighed sadly. "I can fix that now, though."

She grabbed Elena roughly by the shoulders and threw her over the railing. Elena fell so fast that she didn't even have time to scream. When she hit the water, it felt like landing on solid ground. Her bones creaked in protest as she sank under.

Panicking, Elena tried to swim to the surface, but something caught hold of her right leg and pulled her deeper instead. She looked to see what it was and realized that it was Uncle John. His face was a mask of disappointment. "I never wanted this for you either, sweetheart," he said. "I have to make it stop."

She fought and kicked, but it seemed that she was no stronger than a human girl, and he pulled her all the way to the bottom, where her parents' car was sitting, buried up to its axles in silt. Her mom and dad were inside, and their expressions matched Uncle John's. "It's your fault we're here, you know," said her mom.

"No!" Elena cried. When Uncle John opened the rear passenger door and attempted to shove her inside, she fought back with renewed strength and finally managed to free herself from his grip. She swam upward as fast as she could, and she had almost reached the surface when something else caught hold of her. She looked down. This time it was Jenna and Alaric, each holding onto one of her feet.

"We died because of you," said Jenna. "Why can't you do the same for us?"

"I didn't want you to die," said Elena. She looked around desperately and saw Stefan swimming towards her. "Help me!" she begged him.

"I can't," he said, looking heartbroken. "You told me to save Matt."

She could barely move her limbs now, and Jenna and Alaric were pulling her deeper. "Then where's Damon?" she asked desperately. "He'll save me. He always chooses me!"

"But you chose _me_," said Stefan.

"Damon promised he would _never _leave me!" Elena shouted, but this time, her voice obeyed the laws of nature and was lost in a stream of bubbles, and the water began to pour into her mouth and flood her lungs. Stefan turned and swam away, and Elena thought all hope was lost when she was suddenly seized from behind and pulled from the water. She collapsed on the bank of the river, coughing and spluttering. "Damon?" she wheezed hopefully, looking around to see who had saved her.

It wasn't Damon. It was Katherine. Her gown was soaking wet and her features were contorted in rage. Elena woke from her dream with a start, only to find Katherine's hands clenched around her throat.

* * *

Author's note: I was drinking a bit when I added the part about Flopsy. I simply adore rabbits and my lionhead, Winnie, is trained to run for his dear life when Stefan is on the tv. I yell, "Uh Oh! Bunny eater!" whenever Stefan is saying something, and he runs for his dear life under my blankets. It's _adorable._

I hope you all enjoyed! Please don't forget to drop us a line about what you thought of the chapter. ^_^


	5. Chapter Five

Love of my life can't you see,  
Bring it back bring it back,  
Don't take it away from me,  
Because you don't know what it means to me

_Love of my Life, Queen_

* * *

Chapter Five

"What are you doing?!" Elena choked.

"Funny. I was about to ask you the same question," said Katherine. "Senior Prom 2011? I was wondering how the next doppelgänger was here a century and a half early."

Elena's eyes widened. "It was an act?"

"You catch on quickly. I figured the best way to learn the truth about you was to get inside your head, and to do that, I needed you to drop your guard. Now, unless you want me to put a stake through your heart, you're going to tell me why you're here."

"There is no why," said Elena, trying fruitlessly to tug Katherine's hands away from her throat. "I came here by mistake."

"You expect me to believe that?" Katherine scoffed. "How does someone travel through time by mistake?"

By having a crazy ancestor who didn't put warning labels on his inventions, Elena thought. Aloud, she said, "Look, if it was up to me, I'd be back in my time already, but Emily said she can't send me back yet. Just because I _look_ like you doesn't mean I always have some diabolical plan up my sleeve like you do. All I want is to go home."

Katherine raised her eyebrows and her grip loosened enough that Elena finally succeeded in breaking free, and she immediately put as much distance between them as she could without leaving the room. Katherine followed her movement her with narrowed eyes. "Your presence here might be a mistake, but I know what I saw in that dream. I'm not sure how you managed to get both Salvatore brothers wrapped around your little finger in your time, but I have no intention of letting you try it here."

"God, could you be more like a spoiled child?" said Elena. She was playing with serious fire here, she knew, but her courage had risen a great deal in the last few moments, along with her annoyance. She wasn't some little girl Katherine could push around anymore, she was a vampire, and she didn't have to take crap from anyone. "You're, what, three hundred and fifty? Jealousy is a little beneath you, don't you think?"

If looks could kill, Elena would be dead, but she plunged on, meeting Katherine's icy glare with one of her own. "Maybe if you had stopped playing games with Damon and Stefan long enough to _pick_ one of them, they wouldn't _both_ be wrapped around my little finger in 2010. Trying to hold onto both of them is why you _lost_ both of them." A bitter taste filled her mouth, and she looked down. "It's why _I'm_ losing both of them," she finished quietly.

Katherine took a while to reply, and when she did, it was with a surprising lack of hostility. "Stefan said you chose him," she observed, "and yet you were searching for Damon."

"I was in love with Stefan," Elena admitted, deciding that continued honesty was her best bet, "but everything's different now. I'm not with him anymore, and I thought I was falling in love with Damon instead, but they're convinced it's all because of the stupid sire bond. For all I know, they could be right. And even if they aren't, it doesn't matter what I feel for Damon, because he'll never believe it's real." She offered Katherine a pained smile. "So you see? I'll have enough Salvatore love triangle drama to deal with when I get home; I don't need any more of it here."

Katherine watched her silently for a long time, before she stood up a little straighter and said, "If you'll excuse me, I must speak with Emily. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow morning." On that enigmatic note, she left the room.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Elena half-expected Katherine to lunge across the table and attack her whenever they made eye contact, but she never did. She was strangely quiet and thoughtful through most of the meal, and Elena caught herself wondering more than once whether Katherine had actually taken her words to heart, but that didn't seem likely. She was probably just still making up her mind about how best to get rid of her.

As the day wore on, however, Katherine continued to play the role of affectionate sister flawlessly. First, she took Elena into town to place an order for her dresses. It was a much lengthier process than going shopping in the present. To start off, Elena had to get undressed until she was wearing only her underclothes, and then she had to stand still with her arms held out to the sides while Mrs. Donovan, the seamstress, took her measurements.

"Strange," Mrs. Donovan muttered.

"What?" said Elena.

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about, dear," said Mrs. Donovan, "it's just that I wasn't expecting your measurements to be so different from your sister's. Your bust measurement is the same as hers, but your hips aren't quite as wide, while your waist is a good deal wider. How very peculiar."

In other circumstances, Elena might have been offended by this, but she knew it was just because Katherine had been wearing corsets for God knew how long, while she'd only been wearing them for a few hours, so instead she seized the opportunity to do something for her aching ribs and insides. "Oh, about that," she said, "I haven't been lacing my corsets very tightly for the last few months. I still haven't fully recovered from the fire, you see, and I've found that wearing things as tight as usual doesn't really help matters."

"Well, you'll ruin your figure if you keep that up," said Mrs. Donovan sternly, "but I wouldn't want to cause you unnecessary pain. It might not look as fashionable, but I'll make your gowns to match your waistline as it is for now. Just be sure to bring them back to me as soon as you're feeling better so that I can take them in properly."

"Of course," said Elena, hiding her glee with difficulty. She looked at Katherine to see her reaction to all of this, and found her watching them with a rather triumphant gleam in her eyes. Well, thought Elena, this was pretty much a win-win. She got to wear clothes that didn't crush her and Katherine got to be the more fashionable twin.

Measurements taken, Elena was squashed back into the dress she was currently borrowing from Katherine. Next, Mrs. Donovan pulled out books of dress designs and bolts of fabric for them to look through. Once Katherine had helped her decide on four day dresses, four evening dresses, two formal gowns, a riding habit, and a few nightgowns—all of which would take Mrs. Donovan at least two weeks to complete—, they headed off to the milliner's to buy hats, and then to the cobbler's to get shoes.

Katherine easily charmed everyone they came across and Elena followed her lead, with the result that soon it seemed the entire town knew the story of the miraculous reunion of the Pierce sisters and was happy to welcome Elena with open arms. By the time they finished their shopping and got back in the carriage to return to the Salvatore mansion, Elena felt sure that they'd been invited to have tea with every lady in Mystic Falls. She really wasn't looking forward to any of it, but, as Katherine pointed out, it did take care of whatever issues Elena might have otherwise had with getting inside various houses.

Giuseppe was still out on matters of business when they arrived at the mansion, and he had taken Stefan with him. While they waited for them to get back, Katherine introduced Elena to all of the household servants. There was Jess, the cook, Annie, the maid, Joseph, the footman, George, the coachman, and Thomas, the stable hand. She also met Emily's children. Tara, the oldest at age seven, helped Jess in the kitchen, and Benjamin, age five, helped in the stables, mostly by polishing the tack, as he was too little to do much with the horses themselves. Two-year-old Addy ran around after Tara whenever Emily was too busy to tend to her.

Elena felt horrible that they all had to be stuck in this sort of life, but as there was nothing she could do about it; she merely attempted to be as friendly to all of them as possible. She tried to guess which of Emily's children Bonnie was descended from, but she couldn't be sure. She thought she could see a little of Sheila in Tara's features, at least.

Maybe it had something to do with her crazy dream the night before, but Elena felt even less eager to spend time with Stefan when he got home than she'd been already. She knew it wasn't the 1864 Stefan she was upset with, but it didn't make much of a difference. He obviously wanted to spend more time with Katherine, but was too much of a gentleman to exclude Elena, and offered to give her a tour of the mansion and grounds before dinner. Elena was quick to invite Katherine to come with them, which put an end to the subtle glares she'd been throwing Elena's way and brought a wide smile to Stefan's face.

That night, after the Salvatores were asleep and just when Emily had come to help Elena undress, Katherine came to Elena's room and announced that they were going hunting. Elena wanted to protest, but she was already much hungrier than usual after twenty-four hours, probably because she hadn't had much caffeine or alcohol to mute her thirst, like she would have had at home.

"Won't the town get suspicious if people go missing in the night?" she asked nervously.

"Only if you're too hungry to leave them alive," said Katherine with a condescending smirk.

"Then you're not planning to kill anyone?" said Elena.

"Please, do you think I'm a fool? When I want to kill, I go out of town, but I'm not interested in making a long trip right now."

"What about the scream I heard last night?"

"Travelers on the road," said Katherine dismissively. "I made sure they weren't from around here. If we're lucky, we'll find some more of them tonight."

Elena looked at Emily, whose jaw seemed to be clenched rather tightly, but it loosened when she met Elena's gaze. "Go," she said. "All will be well."

And it was. Snatch-eat-erase was much more difficult and far less fun with Katherine than it had been with Damon, but nobody died and nobody remembered or showed any signs of having been bitten by the time they'd had their fill, and Elena felt her worries that she'd leave a trail of bodies in 1864 diminish significantly.

The next day filled with seemingly endless social calls. These turned out not to be as awful as Elena had expected. In fact, they were a lot like Founder's parties in the present, just on a smaller scale. She was going to have a lot of stories to tell her friends about their ancestors when she got home.

By day three in 1864, Elena had given up worrying that Katherine would murder her in her sleep. She'd been aloof enough with Stefan to win Katherine's approval, and Stefan had paid Elena little enough attention in return to make it clear that Katherine had no reason to worry about losing his affection.

The aloofness did give her plenty of opportunities to observe, however, and as much cause as present day Stefan had given her to be angry with him lately, she couldn't deny that it hurt to see him so indifferent to her and so enamored with Katherine. Stefan looked at Katherine with a sweet, boyish kind of admiration that Elena had never seen in the time she'd been with him. She supposed he'd become too jaded for that by the time he'd met her. She watched them glumly from her seat on one of the stone benches as they chased each other around the hedge maze in the back garden, Katherine laughing in delight when she made it to the statue at the other end before him and challenging him to another round.

Deciding she'd had enough, Elena stood up began to walk in the direction of the forest beyond the maze. "Where are you going, Miss Elena?" Stefan called.

"I just thought I'd go for a little walk," she said, surprised that he'd even noticed.

"Come, Stefan, Elena will be fine without us, but if you don't hurry, I'm going to win again," Katherine teased, which was more than enough to pull Stefan's attention back to herself.

Elena rolled her eyes and kept on walking. She probably wouldn't be able to walk far enough not to be able to hear them, but at least it only took a short while until they were completely out of sight. Eventually, she came to a halt near some trees, where she closed her eyes and attempted to block out the continued sounds of Stefan's laughs and Katherine's shrieks and giggles.

She wished she had her journal. She wanted more than anything to get her thoughts down on paper. Maybe she could ask for a journal later, but then, did she really want to have a record of her time in the past lying around for someone to find? No, she decided as she leaned against a tree. She couldn't risk that, no matter how badly she wanted to write down her thoughts. She would save that for when she was at home, when it would be safe to write, and when she wouldn't have to worry about changing the past.

Elena was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice the sounds of someone approaching her until he suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her to the other side of the nearest tree. For a split second, she thought she was being attacked, but then she found herself staring up into Damon's eyes. She lost her breath for a moment as he looked down at her. Like Stefan's, Damon's hair was longer and curlier than she was used to, and he was dressed in the blue uniform of a Confederate soldier, a burlap bag slung over his back. He put a hand on her waist and pulled her closer.

His eyes were so _blue_. He looked so happy to see her. There was a fleeting moment when she wanted to run, but then, without saying a word, he leaned down and kissed her.

Elena's skin ignited the moment his lips met hers, but she didn't kiss him back at first. She was afraid. She couldn't kiss him, it was crazy! This was human Damon, past Damon! Her body didn't seem to care, however, and she slowly began to respond to him. Her hand moved to his neck and she could feel how _alive_ he was. His blood rushed under the skin in excitement as Elena responded more, deepening the kiss.

Damon pulled back for a breath and reached up with his right hand to cup her face, then kissed her again.

"Damon," she breathed, forgetting where she was for a moment. She wrapped both arms around his neck and knocked his hat off as she buried her fingers in his curly hair.

Damon dropped his burlap bag, and both of his hands found her waist.

"Katherine…"

Everything stopped.

Elena suddenly remembered where she was. This was human Damon. He wasn't in love with her yet. He hadn't even _met_ her yet! How could she—_why _had she let him kiss her like that?

Kissing him felt so _good_, though, that for a second she was tempted to keep going, letting him think she really was Katherine just so he would continue kissing her. But the impulse vanished and tears sprang to her eyes. She pushed him away.

"Katherine?" Damon asked. He looked hurt, and Elena's breath caught in her throat all over again. "What is the matter, I thought you were happy—"

"I'm _not_ Katherine," she said.

Damon looked utterly bewildered. Elena grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and pushed him against the tree. "You're going to put on your hat, and you're going to continue on to your destination. We never kissed. We haven't even met yet." She closed her eyes for a moment, sadness almost overwhelming her intense anger and hurt that Damon had only kissed her because he thought she was Katherine. She looked at him again. "You're not going to remember this," she said.

"I'm not going to remember," Damon said. He wasn't as moonfaced as Tobias had been the night she arrived in 1864.

"Good," she said, releasing his shoulders and stepping back. "Now…find another path into the gardens." Without waiting for him to verify the command, she turned and flounced away from him.

* * *

Author Notes: Heh… I'd say something, but what is there to really say? Taaroko had to go to work and she got offline before I realized I got the chapter back in an email from her... and I was sort of trying to sleep. She wrote most of the top half of this chapter, I wrote the end. *devlish little smirk*

Hope you enjoyed! I know we're updating fast right now, but I've also just come off a huge writing spree from National Novel Writing Month and Taaroko is out of school for a bit for the holidays.

Make sure you leave a review! All of you are wonderful!


	6. Chapter Six

Author's Note: Ta-Da!

I _love _this chapter.

Thank you so, so much to everyone, again, who has been reviewing, adding the story to favorites/alerts.

Now, I've got to clean my apartment. Due to the holidays, I don't know if there will be an update for a few days due to Christmas and if I sleep over at mom's, I won't have internet up on the farm (that entirely depends on if my one of my brothers decide to drink XD). I do have four days off from work, though. I've been roped into cooking the Christmas turkey, so I will have about four hours to write while I do that.

Well, I've already celebrated Yule (ha! I knew the world wouldn't world end. Thanks, Odin and Buffy), but Happy Christmas/Hanukah/whatever else you may or may not celebrate. Please be sure to drop Taaroko and me a line in a review!

Co-author notes: Merry Christmas from Taaroko. I had lots of fun working on this chapter, and a shout-out goes to my mom for helping with the Italian bits.

* * *

Chapter Six

Katherine giggled as she ran from Stefan, squealing when he nearly caught her. She picked up her skirts and dashed in the other direction, stopping when she reached the marble statue again. "Ha!" she said triumphantly, turning to grin at him. Just then, Elena came hurrying back into the garden, wiping her cheeks with backs of her hands and keeping her face averted from both of them. She was across the garden and inside the house again before Stefan could do more than look confused.

"I win," said Katherine, raising her voice slightly. "What's my prize?"

Stefan turned back to look at her, but he wasn't the one who answered.

"What would you like it to be?"

They looked around to see Damon striding into the garden from a different path than the one Elena had taken.

"They extended your leave?" Stefan asked.

"I was simply having too much fun to return to battle," Damon said, smirking.

"Your commitment to the Confederacy is inspiring," said Stefan dryly, walking up to Damon and pulling him into a hug.

"Well, this works out wonderfully for me," Katherine said, sauntering towards them with her hands clasped behind her back.

"How's that, Miss Katherine?" said Damon.

"Now I'll have both of you here to keep me entertained." She turned and began to head back to the house. "First and foremost, I'll need someone to escort me to the Founder's Ball."

"With pleasure," Damon said.

"I would be honored," said Stefan at the same time.

Katherine stopped and turned to face them again, in time to see them exchanging awkward glances. "The smart and kind Salvatore brothers both coming to my rescue," she said. "How will I ever choose?" And that was the question, wasn't it?

When she continued walking to the house, they began to follow her, and she stopped again. "Damon," she said as an afterthought, looking over her shoulder at him. "I have a surprise for you. You've missed all the excitement that's happened since you left."

"Have I?" Damon said, his eyes gleaming with interest.

"Oh!" said Stefan, comprehension dawning on his face. "Yes, Katherine's—"

"Ah ah ah, Stefan," said Katherine, waving a finger at him, "don't spoil my fun. I'll be right back." She smiled to herself as she walked away from them, but the smile faded by the time she was inside the house. She needed to find Elena. She couldn't imagine what might have happened to send her running back inside in such a state after so short a time walking in the forest, but she was determined to find out.

Katherine heard Elena before she reached her room. "Ugh! I can't believe this!" she was saying, followed by the distinct sound of something striking wood, which conjured an image in Katherine's mind of Elena kicking the baseboard of her bed in temper, "Damon, why didn't you just answer your stupid phone? Then I would have never missed school, and I wouldn't be in this mess!"

Not bothering to knock, Katherine pushed the door open and strode inside, where she found Elena angrily pacing the length of the room. Her chest was heaving, her eyes were puffy, and her hair was in complete disarray. "What on earth is a phone?" said Katherine mildly.

Elena stopped pacing. "Just something from the future," she said. "Don't worry about it. I just—ugh! Why did this have to happen?" She raked her hands through her hair, knocking several curls completely free of the elegant style Emily had worked so hard on that morning. Emily certainly wouldn't be pleased when she saw the state it was in now. "If Stefan hadn't pissed me off so bad, maybe I wouldn't have had to clean my damn living room just to calm down, and I never would have found that compass."

Katherine quickly poked her head back outside to make sure no servants or Salvatores were ease dropping, and then she stepped back into Elena's room and closed the door. When she turned, Elena was shuffling through the stationery and pens laid out on her writing desk, and going through the drawers. Katherine watched, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. Elena quickly gave up, slammed a drawer shut, and turned around to lean against the desk, rubbing her temples with her fingers.

"Can you believe I thought for just one minute that I'd get a little peace and be able to clear my head?" She made a noise somewhere between a whimper and a groan. "God, I wish I could write it all down but I don't have a journal."

"We could fix that," Katherine said. "The bookshop in town—"

"No, I can't keep a journal here. Can't risk someone finding it and learning a whole bunch of future spoilers, can I?" she said with a humorless chuckle, letting her hands fall to her sides. "Emily told me I wouldn't have to worry about changing anything, but that's no reason to test it."

"What happened to you on your walk out there?" said Katherine.

Elena heaved herself away from the desk. She seemed about to resume her pacing from before, but she only made it a couple of steps before the tears started to fall. She brought her hands up to cover her mouth, but couldn't quite stifle the sob that escaped.

Completely taken by surprise, Katherine acted on impulse, quickly moving forward and wrapping an arm around Elena's shoulders. "Elena, tell me what happened, dear," she said gently, leading her over to the bed so they could sit down on the edge.

Elena sniffled. "Damon kissed me," she said in a voice that would have been barely audible to a human.

Katherine's eyes widened. "He did?"

"Only because he thought I was you," Elena said. She wiped the tears away angrily. "He grabbed me, he kissed me, I kissed him back, and doppelgänger hijinks ensued."

"From your tone, I take it that wasn't the first time," Katherine said.

"No. But it was the other way around then. He kissed you, but he thought you were me. Caused all kinds of problems," said Elena. "But don't worry, I compelled him to forget what happened."

Katherine raised her eyebrows. "You've improved a great deal since Tobias. He showed no signs of compulsion when he arrived in the garden a moment after you went inside."

Elena chuckled ruefully. "You've been making me practice a lot."

"True." Katherine sighed and came to a decision. "Now, let's see what we can do to make you presentable again."

"What?" said Elena, sniffing again and frowning at her.

"I'm taking you out to meet Damon now," said Katherine, pulling out a handkerchief from between her corset and camisole and stuffing it into Elena's hand.

Predictably, Elena immediately began to panic. "What? No, I can't!"

"Come, Elena, be reasonable," said Katherine, beginning to pin Elena's hair back into place. It wouldn't be quite the way Emily had done it, but it would at least look presentable. "You're staying in his house, in the room next to his. You can hardly avoid this. Now wipe away your tears, you silly girl."

* * *

Breathe, Elena told herself as she walked with Katherine back out into the gardens. Just breathe. He didn't remember kissing her, so everything would be all right. She had to take a second to marvel at the situation. He'd made her forget the first time she met him, and she'd just done the exact same thing in reverse. She should have seen this coming, though. She'd known about how Damon never went back to battle because he'd wanted to be with Katherine. She should have been on the lookout for him.

Stefan and Damon were wrestling out past the maze when Elena and Katherine finally found them. They both looked so young, their hair mussed and eyes full of laughter as they each tried to get the upper hand in their fake fight. The sight was incredibly endearing. Elena was much more accustomed to seeing them at each other's throats, often because of her. She wondered if they could ever be like this again, just two brothers who loved each other, with nothing driving them apart.

Both brothers stood and straightened their clothes. They were facing away from the house, and so didn't see the girls coming.

"You know Father isn't going to approve of you coming home," Stefan was saying.

"I'll deal with Father," said Damon dismissively. He turned and caught sight of Katherine and Elena. His mouth fell open slightly and he faced them fully, staring from one to the other.

Katherine giggled and grabbed Elena's hand, practically dragging her forward to stand in front of them.

"What's this?" Damon asked, smirking as he recovered from his initial shock. "Two of you?"

"This was my surprise, Damon," Katherine said. "My twin sister, Elena, survived the fire that took the rest of our family from us. Your father has been kind enough to extend his generosity to include her as well. Elena, this is Damon Salvatore."

Damon stepped forward and caught up one of Elena's hands in his. "It is a _great _pleasure to meet you, Miss Elena," he said. He raised her hand to his lips, where a forerunner of the smirk she knew so well had appeared, but it vanished quickly as his expression became very serious. "It is a real stroke of good fortune that Katherine isn't the only survivor of such a terrible tragedy, but you have my deepest sympathy for the loss of your parents and other siblings."

His eyes seemed to bore into her own as he said this, and the depth of his sincerity suddenly had her wondering how Katherine could use such a story to take advantage of him, Stefan, and Giuseppe's hospitality. But then again, it wasn't as if Katherine hadn't lost her family in awful circumstances, and the same went for Elena. The grief was real, even if the details weren't. "Thank you," she said. She flashed back to the first time she had ever met Damon. Well, the second time, but she hadn't known that. He had kissed her hand then, too.

"Are you all right, Miss Elena?" Stefan asked.

The spell broke. Elena shook herself slightly and tore her eyes from Damon's to look at Katherine and Stefan. "Oh, yes, of course," she said, pulling her hand free of Damon's grasp and stepping back. "It's just…painful memories, you know. It's all still rather close to the surface."

"I know, my dear, I know," said Katherine, stepping forward and hugging her. Then she pulled back and looked Elena in the eyes. "We have each other again now, though, and that's twice as much as we thought we had."

They turned to face the Salvatore brothers, and Elena offered Damon a belated curtsey. "It is a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Salvatore," she said with a smile. He and Stefan both looked relieved to see the return of her good humor, and instantly smiled back.

"Please," said Damon, putting a hand to his heart, "'Mr. Salvatore' sounds so stiff and formal. Call me Damon, as your sister has done since we met."

He was doing that smoldering sexy eye thing to her that he did so often in the present. It had none of the weight behind it that she was used to, but still…so much for her resolve to be as aloof with him as she'd been with Stefan. "Very well, Damon," she said. "But you must call me Elena." If Katherine objected, Elena would probably hear about it as soon as the Salvatores were out of earshot.

"Well, now that the two of you have met," Katherine said, clapping her hands. "There is still the matter of the Founder's Ball."

"Oh, Katherine, I don't know if I should—"

"Nonsense, Elena!" Katherine interrupted. Her mischievousness was firmly back in place. "There are two Salvatore brothers and two Pierce sisters. I'm sure we can figure something out."

"Then which—," said Stefan, but Damon quickly flung an arm around his shoulders with rather a lot of force while clearing his throat loudly.

"Don't be so impatient, Stefan," he said. "I'm sure Katherine will tell us once she's made her decision."

Katherine gave both of them a teasing smile, then turned and walked away with her chin held high and her hands behind her back. Elena rolled her eyes and followed her.

Soon, it was time for the midday meal. Katherine, Stefan, and Elena sat down in the dining room while Damon excused himself to change into more appropriate attire and drop off his rucksack—he had raised an eyebrow when he'd learned Elena's room was next to his.

Just as Damon reappeared, now dressed much more like Stefan, Giuseppe walked into the room. The tension that sprang up between father and son was immediate and palpable. The smirk melted off Damon's face and Giuseppe's eyes flashed dangerously. Elena had to stop herself from shivering as she watched them with bated breath.

"Father," said Damon.

"Damon," said Giuseppe. "I wasn't aware that the war had ended."

"It rages on, and will do so without me," said Damon still looking his father directly in the eyes. "I do not intend to return."

Giuseppe's face began to turn a reddish-purple color, and Elena's gaze was drawn to the vein throbbing visibly in his temple. He cast a brief glance towards his other son and his two guests. "Ne discuteremo nel mio ufficio, vigliacco schifoso poco."

Elena had no idea what he had said, but from his menacing tone and the way Stefan sucked in a breath rather loudly across the table from her, she knew it wasn't pleasant.

"Certo, padre," Damon retorted scathingly. "Non vorrei offendere i vostri ospiti, vero?" Before Giuseppe could say anything in response, he turned on his heel and left the room. Looking beyond livid, Giuseppe followed. A few seconds later, the sound of a door slamming echoed through the house, causing Elena and Stefan to wince and Katherine to arch an eyebrow.

This was definitely one of those times when Elena hated having vampire hearing, because now that Giuseppe believed he and Damon were no longer within earshot of anyone in the dining room, he switched back to English. "Well, now that there are no guests to offend, please entertain me with your excuses for bringing disgrace on this household."

"My reasons are my own."

"Oh, but I think I can guess one of them. While you were on leave, you saw how Stefan has taken to Miss Pierce, and you feared that on your next leave, you'd come home to find you had gained a sister. But if she wasn't lost to you before, she will be now. A refined young lady like that knows better than to throw herself away on a man with no sense of duty. Coming back without your honor is the real reason she'll never be yours."

"If you care so much about this war, Father, then why didn't you enlist yourself?"

The unmistakable sound of a hand striking flesh filled Elena's ears, and she stood up so suddenly that she almost knocked her chair over. "Forgive me," she said as Katherine shot her a warning glance and Stefan began to rise as well, looking concerned. "I, um, I'm afraid I'm not feeling entirely well after all. I'll be in my room."

* * *

*For those of you who don't speak Italian, here's the translation of Giuseppe's and Damon's lines:  
"We'll discuss this in my office, you disgusting little coward."  
"Certainly, Father. We wouldn't want to offend your guests, would we?"


	7. Chapter Seven

Merry Christmas! Surprise chapter to you, and Taaroko went it alone since I was-er-caught up in reading some really _smutty _Delena fanfiction and worrying over if I'd burn the Christmas turkey when I get up at 4 am to make it.

* * *

Chapter Seven

For the few days it took for angry red mark on Damon's face to fade, Elena couldn't look Giuseppe without wanting to rip his head off. If it hadn't been for Katherine's determined charm, mealtimes likely would have been spent in complete silence, with Damon and Giuseppe glaring daggers at each other while Stefan and Elena kept their eyes on their own plates. But Katherine managed to diffuse the tension enough that it was all bearable.

Something about that puzzled Elena. That Katherine could keep playing her part so flawlessly, preen when Giuseppe doted on her, even though she knew just as well as Elena did what had happened between him and Damon, was incredible to her. It was obvious that Damon was already in love with Katherine, but Katherine wasn't even angry with his father for striking him and belittling him. She really hadn't ever loved him, had she? But why had she strung him along when he cared so deeply? Even now, Katherine delighted in holding the question of whose invitation to the Founder's Ball she would accept over their heads. Did she not know she was going to choose Stefan? Did she think she liked both of them equally?

When word got around town that Damon had deserted, most people began to treat him with cold contempt, wearing tight smiles and slinging thinly veiled insults his way. To the untrained eye, it looked like Damon wasn't affected by any of this. He met his father's glares unflinchingly when he was in the same room with him, and he was his usual smirking, joking self with Stefan, Katherine, and Elena. He even smiled politely at the sneers that met him around town and found ways to fling the verbal barbs right back at those who spoke them.

But Elena knew Damon, and one thing that definitely never changed about him was the way he donned a mask of snarky indifference and pretended his issues were nothing. She didn't let him get away with that in the present, and she certainly wasn't going to let him get away with it now. So when, about a week after he came back, he failed to appear for lunch, Elena excused herself and went in search of him.

Even after over a week and a half, she had no idea what Katherine's game was, and she remembered all too well the time when Katherine had threatened to kill everyone she cared about if she didn't break up with Stefan. Still, she was sure Katherine would be quick to tell her if she ever stepped over a line, and since it had been her idea for Elena to go to the ball with whichever Salvatore was left over after she made her choice, Elena saw no harm in going after Damon. The one thing she knew for sure was that even if Katherine did shake things up and choose Damon, she would never take the trouble to be there for him when he needed someone.

He didn't take long to find—one of the many advantages to having vampire senses. After about ten minutes of searching, she discovered him standing at the edge of the lake near the road that led out of Mystic Falls, his horse tethered to a nearby tree. He must have dispensed with his coat somewhere, because he was down to his waistcoat and had the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to the elbows. She watched him for a moment before making her presence known. He bent down and picked up a handful of stones from the ground, then tossed one at the water. It skipped three times before sinking under the surface.

She walked closer. "Damon," she said when she was about ten feet away.

He turned head sharply to look at her, and his eyes narrowed briefly as they traveled over every feature of her face. "Elena," he said, looking back at the water and tossing the second stone, which skipped four times. Elena felt slightly hurt at the edge of disappointment in the way he said her name. He was already better at Stefan at telling her and Katherine apart, but he clearly would have preferred the other "twin" to come and find him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, walking closer.

"I'm fine," he said. "What would make you think otherwise?" The third stone plopped straight into the water without skipping at all, and he closed his eyes and grimaced.

"Whatever it is, you can talk to me," said Elena.

An incredulous smile lifted his lips, but he didn't look at her. "I appreciate the gesture, but you and I barely know each other." He threw another stone. Two skips.

"Is it something to do with your father?" she pressed.

"My father and I have never seen eye-to-eye, and that was hardly the worst of our confrontations. To be honest, I would have been more disturbed if he had welcomed me with open arms rather than an open hand."

He saw Elena's stricken expression and immediately withdrew behind a mask of proper, reserved gentleman. "Forgive me, this isn't the sort of thing one talks about in polite company."

"Then I give you permission to be impolite," said Elena, reaching out and touching his forearm. The contact sent a familiar surge of heat and electricity sweeping from her fingertips through her entire body, but she had a lot of practice in hiding her reactions to this man, so the only hint of it that escaped her was a slight shudder as she exhaled. Damon didn't see it; his eyes were on the delicate fingers resting on his skin. Then they lifted to meet hers in an almost quizzical way, and she wondered if he'd felt the same thing she had. She had to resist the urge to grab him and kiss him.

Damon chuckled and shook his head before looking out at the lake again. "Enlisting was the only thing I've ever done that made my father proud, and I took that away from him," he said with a shrug. "So I don't blame him for reacting the way he did."

"Why can't he just be proud of you because you're his son? He doesn't seem to have this problem with Stefan." Elena didn't want to pit the two brothers against each other, but she couldn't pretend there wasn't a real disparity in how their father treated them, nor could she pretend it didn't upset her.

"It's because I'm not him," said Damon. "I'm the eldest, the heir. I'm supposed to be my father over again, but I'm not. Stefan, on the other hand, is the baby. He's free to be whatever he wants and is guaranteed to have Father's blessing."

"What do you want to be?" said Elena. She knew Stefan had planned on becoming a doctor before he was turned and everything changed, but she had no idea what Damon's plans had been.

"I don't know," he said. "Before the war, I had a notion of doing something in politics. It wasn't business, so it made Father angry, which made it all the more appealing to me. I graduated from the University of Virginia with a law degree, and I was thinking of starting in the city council here in Mystic Falls, but...well, now I'm a deserter, so I'll have to reconsider my ambitions."

Elena had to stop herself from chuckling. The idea of Damon doing something as normal and boring as pursuing a political career was so strange to her, and yet she was sure he would have been wonderful at it. He'd managed to become head of the founders' council in the present in less than a year, despite being one of the creatures the council existed to destroy. He had all the charm and charisma of a politician and the strength to make the hard choices even when it made him unpopular.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you," said Damon, his tone much lighter than before, yet somehow also oddly stiff.

"Oh?" said Elena, feeling her pulse kick up a notch.

He turned to face her and took both of her hands in his. "Would you, Miss Elena Pierce, do me the honor of allowing me to escort you to the Founder's Ball next week?"

Elena's mouth fell open in surprise. Unfortunately, it took her brain longer to recover than her voice. "But I thought you wanted to go with Katherine," she blurted. His jaw tightened. "She's taking Stefan, isn't she?"

"She's taking Stefan," he repeated hollowly.

So that's why he was out here. It hadn't been about Giuseppe after all. She nodded slowly and swallowed, looking down at their hands. "So you asked me before she could make a big game out of pairing up the leftovers." The bitter taste in her mouth was strong, and she pulled her hands away. "What is this to you? Am I just a spare so you don't have to go alone, or do you mean to make Katherine jealous? Or since I look like her, are you just going to pretend I _am_ her?"

"I'm sorry," he said, looking bewildered, "but you made no objection when Katherine said Stefan and I should each take one of you, so I assumed—" He broke off with a wince. "I suppose you were hoping she would choose me so that you could go with Stefan."

"No!" said Elena, seizing his hands again. She was on the brink of confessing to Damon just how badly she wanted to go with him, but he'd only known her a week and was most definitely still in love with Katherine. At best, such a confession would earn her his pity, which she didn't want at all. "I have no preference, but I do not wish to be anyone's consolation prize. If I am to go with you, then I need to know that you'll be going with _me_."

Damon's eyes widened and he stared at her for a moment. "Forgive me," he said, squeezing her fingers slightly. "I'm afraid I failed to consider your feelings, but I will not make that mistake again." One corner of his lips twitched upward and his expression became rather shrewd. "I take it this sort of thing happens rather often to an identical twin."

"You have no idea," said Elena ruefully. "For example, you and your Father both said 'Two of you?' when you first saw me and Katherine together, as if we're only two copies of the same person, and it's happened before. Katherine thinks it's all very amusing, but I want to be Elena, not merely one half of the Pierce twins whole." Pierce twins, Petrova doppelgängers—there wasn't much difference, really.

"Well then, Elena," said Damon, his smirk returning, "I would be delighted to accompany _you_ to the ball, if you'll have me."

She smiled. "I would love to have you accompany me, Damon." His smirk turned into a full smile, and again she was visited by a powerful desire to kiss him. The knowledge that she could just compel him to forget again did nothing for her self-control in that area, but she managed to resist somehow.

"I think I should probably return now," he said, looking back the way they'd come and releasing her hands. "Would you like me to escort you back?" he added as he went over to retrieve his horse from where he'd tied it up, then returned to her side, leading the horse by the reins in his right hand and offering her his left arm.

"Thank you," she said, looping her own arm through it.

They walked together in comfortable silence for a while, before he said, "Anyone who's really looking should be able to tell you and Katherine apart at once."

She smiled at him again, but it was forced. Both "first" times he'd met her, he'd thought she was Katherine. Logic insisted that she couldn't hold either of those times against him, because he'd had no idea there was another option to choose from, but it still hurt. Would he have noticed her at all if it hadn't been for Katherine? Would Stefan, for that matter?

It wasn't until later that afternoon that she realized how much she liked being Damon's friend, whether it was in the past or the present. Even if nothing else could happen without changing the past beyond repair, she knew she'd never be able to prevent herself from being his friend.

And it wasn't until she was beginning to drift off in her bed that night after another successful zero-casualties hunt with Katherine that she realized she had been able to seek Damon out on purpose without the slightest resistance, as if the sire bond had never existed. Maybe because it _didn't_ exist yet, or because Damon wasn't a vampire yet.

* * *

Taaroko: Mmm, Damon in a waistcoat with his shirtsleeves rolled up. Yeah, there was pretty much no need to do that except that I think that's an incredibly sexy look in general.

I second that! Mmmm...

Be sure to review. :)


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"The signal for dropping the fan," Katherine said, demonstrating the movement gracefully, "means 'we will be friends'—Elena! Are you even paying attention?"

Elena stood in the Salvatores' parlor with Katherine, holding a fan with white lace paneling between the wooden slats. Emily sat in the corner, quietly playing with her youngest girl, Addy. The fan certainly wasn't one of the cheap Japanese-looking fans Elena used to win in arcade games as a little girl, the kind made of paper that ripped easily—and it wasn't just for cooling herself off in an overheated ballroom. Elena wondered what could really be so improper about normal flirting to have caused nineteenth century ladies to invent an entire language of signals conveyed by specific fan movements; even the number of panels open meant something! Unfortunately, Katherine was determined to ensure that Elena was fluent in the "language of the fan" in time for the ball, and even that was only part of the seemingly endless rules of ballroom etiquette. There were so many other things to remember—how a lady was supposed to be treated, how many sets there might be at the ball to dance, that she _wouldn't_ be able to dance all of them with Damon because that might send the wrong message to others, and so much more.

Elena jumped and snapped her fan shut. "I'm sorry," she said, suppressing a groan, "this is just all so much to absorb."

"How is it that women in your time can have the same opportunities in schooling and employment as men and yet still be so poorly educated?" said Emily.

Katherine pointed her closed fan at Elena. "You only have five days left to master this, and I'd rather not have to compel the whole of Mystic Falls into forgetting that my sister committed some sort of horrendous faux pas."

"If I'd known this would be so much work, I would have compelled Damon into asking someone else instead," Elena grumbled.

"Oh, come on," said Katherine with a flash of teeth, "we both know that's not true."

Elena glared and drew her fan through her closed hand, the code for "I hate you."

Katherine laughed in delight and slowly drew her own fan across her cheek, the code for "I love you!"

Elena smiled grudgingly. She never would have expected Katherine Pierce to remind her of Caroline, and she definitely wouldn't have expected to be teased by her about Damon. In fact, the day Damon had asked her to the ball, she'd dreaded Katherine's reaction when she found out. If she was anywhere near as possessive of Damon as she was of Stefan, then Elena was screwed. But Katherine had only smiled knowingly when Elena told her and asked if Elena had really expected it to turn out any other way.

"You see," said Katherine, "you're already getting the hang of it. And you know enough of the dance steps to get you through the ball. Perhaps tomorrow we can do a walk-through of the entire evening and see what else we'll still need to work on."

Elena sighed. "Okay. Can we go through all the different fan signals again?"

* * *

The day of the ball had arrived at last, and Elena felt as though she were on the verge of nervous collapse. Today, she was alone in the parlor, wielding a pair of knitting needles and fruitlessly attempting to cast on yarn for something to do. There had been several gruesome so-called "animal attacks" in the woods a few days back, which, Elena already knew, was going to present a real problem for all the vampires who'd settled in the area. To Elena's utter bemusement, Katherine had announced that one of the best ways to learn what the townspeople knew and suspected about the attacks was to join the local knitting group that the influential ladies of Mystic Falls took turns hosting a few times a month. Apparently that was where the gossip flowed the freest.

And so, on top of all the ballroom etiquette, Elena now had to learn how to knit well enough to convince the 1864 natives that she knew what she was doing. It had been another surprise to discover that Katherine was quite skilled at knitting, but Elena was just grateful she was willing to teach her. Katherine had told her it was something she had learned a long time ago, and she preferred it to the usual needlework women used in order to take up their time during the day. Elena was starting to feel like an uncivilized fool whenever Katherine asked her what she knew—if she could play piano, what languages besides English she could speak fluently, what designs she had embroidered. She had only just been able to pass Katherine's quizzes on the language of the fan the previous evening, but it looked like her instruction wouldn't end with tonight's ball.

"Ugh!" The wool wasn't sitting right on the needle. It didn't look even, the loops were twisted oddly, and her left index finger and thumb were cramping from trying to hold the yarn so she could put a loop on the needle correctly. On top of that, when she pulled the yarn from the needle, it tangled up into a horrible mass of knots. With another cry of frustration, she threw the whole mess to the floor, needles and all. Katherine had left her the simple task of using the long-tail cast on to make a ten by ten inch square to start off in knitting, while she ran into town with Emily to pick up a few things, but it looked like Elena wouldn't even accomplish that much.

She heard the front door open then, and a moment later, Katherine walked into the parlor. Behind her in the corridor, Elena could see Emily awkwardly climbing the stairs while weighed down by a stack of boxes.

"Back so soon?" Elena asked, frowning at the spot where Emily had disappeared from view.

Katherine hurried up to her and pulled her to her feet. "You simply _must _come. The ball is only a few short hours away, and we need to start getting you ready." Her eyes flicked down to the knotted mass of wool at Elena's feet. "Oh dear, you still haven't managed to even knit one row yet?"

"It's useless!" Elena huffed, kicking the wool and needles aside irritably. "Why can't I just sit outside the houses where the knitting groups are held and eavesdrop on the gossip?"

"Because then you won't be able to prod the conversation in the directions you need it to go," said Katherine. "But forget about all that for now; we can worry about it after the ball."

Giuseppe, Damon, and Stefan entered just as the two of them left the parlor to follow Emily upstairs.

"What's all this hullabaloo?" said Giuseppe warmly as Emily came dashing back down and hurried past him and his sons.

Katherine flashed him a winning smile. "Elena and I were just headed upstairs to start getting ready for the ball, Mr. Salvatore."

"Ah, yes," he said. "I hope you and my sons have an enjoyable evening. I have some business to attend to that will prevent me from attending." With that, he excused himself and headed off in the direction of his study.

Once he had gone, Katherine turned to Stefan. "Until this evening, Stefan."

"I can't wait," Stefan replied enthusiastically.

Elena noticed the look that passed between the two of them—it was warm and intimate, and she suddenly felt like she was intruding on a private moment. She quickly looked at Damon, who remained quiet, his jaw set tightly. Then his eyes caught hers, and she felt herself blushing. "Elena," he said, and without any further warning, he stepped forward until he was barely a foot away from her and took one of her hands in his. Keeping his eyes on hers, he kissed her hand, his lips twisted in that sexy smirk of his, which sent Elena's heart thumping wildly. "I look forward to our evening together as well."

Just then, Emily blew past them again, effectively breaking the trance Damon had pulled Elena under with his eyes. "Annie!" she bellowed, making all four of them jump. "Get in here this instant and help me!"

The bewildered maid appeared in a doorway farther down the corridor. "Why do I—"

"The bedrooms are spotless! I told you I needed you today, _get over here_ and help me with the rest of the packages!"Emily barked. "And you two!" she added, rounding on Katherine and Elena. "You can flirt all you want later. Upstairs! Get!"

Obviously fighting back a laugh, Katherine did as instructed, but Elena, failing to see why Emily was in such a rush, stayed put. "We have hours before the ball starts," she said.

"Up_stairs,_" Emily ordered.

Before Elena could voice any further confusion, Katherine seized her by the arm and half dragged her up the stairs. "Just do what she says," she advised in an undertone.

"I've never seen Emily like that," said Elena, shocked.

"We took too long picking up your order from Mrs. Donovan's," Katherine explained. "She's worried there won't be time to get both of us ready now."

"My dresses came in?" said Elena brightly. Finally, she could stop borrowing Katherine's torturously tight ones.

"Yes," said Katherine, grinning. "And you'll find an extra one in there. I went back and ordered it for you right after you told me Damon had asked you to the ball."

"Sorry, Miss Peirce, Miss Elena," said Annie as she hurried past them with yet more boxes. "If you could start helping each other out of your day dresses—I don't know the first thing about being a lady's maid, so I don't know what Emily expects me to do."

"Of course," said Elena, and she and Katherine hurried into her room, where the pile of boxes was growing steadily higher. Katherine hurried over to it and began rummaging through them until she found what looked like the largest.

Elena eyed it skeptically. "I don't know…," she said hesitantly. She'd have been perfectly happy wearing either of the formal gowns she'd picked out herself, and she wasn't sure she trusted Katherine's taste.

"Save your objections until you've actually seen it," Katherine admonished, and she whipped a gown from the box with a flourish. Elena's breath escaped her.

* * *

Despite her claims that she'd be no use in helping them prepare, Annie proved indispensable to the process. Katherine and Elena were in their ball gowns in record time, but then it was time to do their hair, which was when things started to get heated again.

"No! Don't fasten Elena's curls so tightly!" Emily slapped the hairpin out of Annie's hand, and it clattered to the floor. "It's meant to be a loose style. Just help Katherine into her jewelry."

"I'm not even supposed to be helping at all, _Emily_," said Annie, finally snapping under the strain of so many orders. "I still have to scrub the dining room floor, dust the books, and tidy Master Stefan's room—"

"I _told _you the bedrooms were fine!" Elena winced as some of Emily's impatience translated into a little more hair-pulling than was necessary to set her curls right. She closed her eyes and tried to block out the sounds of their bickering and remember everything Katherine had taught her about etiquette and the language of the fan. If she had to send Damon a message that way, she was going to do it right.

Her thoughts weren't enough to distract her when Emily shoved another pin into place, and she winced again. "Not that one," Emily snapped when Annie picked up one of the decorative combs to go in Katherine's hair. "_That_ one!"

"But this one looks just fine with the gown!" Annie argued, making Emily's eyes flash.

And Elena had thought Caroline was a nightmare when she had to get ready for an event.

* * *

Damon tugged on his gloves to make sure they were straight and resisted the urge to check his appearance in the hall mirror. He noticed Stefan pull out his pocket watch for about the tenth time in the last few minutes and smirked. "If you check your watch one more time, I'm going to cuff you over the head and ruin that coiffure you worked so hard on," he warned.

"Katherine promised to dance the first set with me," said Stefan. "I'm only making sure we'll still be able to arrive in time for it."

Damon rolled his eyes. "This might be your first ball, little brother, but it won't be mine. You can stop fretting about missing the first set. Even if we arrive halfway through the fifth, I'm sure Katherine means to dance _her_ first set with you. Besides, the later we arrive, the fewer sets there will be for her to dance with other men."

Stefan shook his head, grinning. "What would I do without you to look after me, brother?"

"Oh, mortally offend someone without realizing it and be killed in a duel, no doubt," said Damon, clapping him on the shoulder.

"I hope we haven't kept you waiting too long," came a voice from the top of the stairs, causing both brothers to jump slightly and turn. Katherine and Elena were standing there side-by-side, arms linked together. Damon squinted at their faces to determine which twin was which. The one on the left wore a subtle smirk as her eyes flickered back and forth between him and Stefan, while the one on the right was smiling nervously and blushing a little, avoiding looking directly at anyone while she descended the stairs. Well, that had been simple: the former was Katherine, the latter was Elena.

Mystery solved, Damon allowed himself to take in the entire picture. Katherine looked stunning in a pale violet gown with white lace accents, her hair piled elegantly on her head except for a loose curl hanging down here and there, but he found his gaze drawn more to Elena. Her gown was midnight blue with black lace accents, and her hair had been gathered back behind her ears and draped in large curls over one shoulder. There seemed to be something…lighter about Elena than before. He couldn't figure out what it was, but it was as if she carried herself less stiffly now, and her expression was more relaxed. Her eyes found his and widened a little, and her blush deepened. He smirked.

As much as he still wished Katherine had accepted his invitation rather than Stefan's, it would be no hardship to escort Elena instead. They had been thrown together frequently since his return thanks to Katherine's tendency to 'pair up the leftovers,' as Elena had put it, but she had always seemed perfectly content to be entertained by him. Even as he pined for Katherine and cast envious looks at her and his brother, he had discovered that he quite liked spending time with Elena. Katherine might love to play games and flirt, but she was the girl who wanted to be chased, not the girl who would take the time to learn what troubled him and offer her support. He had never been friends with a woman before, but it felt like the most natural thing in the world with Elena.

As Katherine and Elena reached the bottom of the stairs, Damon was the first to step forward and offer a hand to his partner—Stefan had probably held back so as not to appear as if he didn't know which Pierce sister he was meant to escort. "Elena," he said, bringing her fingers to his lips yet again. He couldn't get enough of her reaction whenever he did that. Katherine always took it in stride, teasing him about using gentlemanliness as an excuse to steal kisses, but Elena was always so flustered by it. She, unlike Katherine, was someone he could surprise. "I must say," he went on as Stefan was copying his actions with Katherine, "you look absolutely radiant in that gown."

"Thank you," she said, smiling. "You're looking rather dashing, yourself."

* * *

At some point between getting out of the carriage and stepping onto the dance floor for the first set with Damon, most of Elena's anxiety about trying to remember everything Katherine had taught her fell away, and she was able to appreciate that she was really attending a Civil War era ball in her hometown. Of course, the fact that she was finally wearing a dress tailored to her own waist rather than Katherine's helped a great deal. This dress was still uncomfortably tight, but no more so than the one she'd warn to the Founder's Day parade, and after what she'd been forced to put up with for the past two and a half weeks, this felt heavenly in comparison.

The music started, and the ladies all curtsied while the gentlemen bowed. Then, just like at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, the two lines stepped together and held up their hands, close but not touching. Also like at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, Damon's eyes found hers within seconds and didn't look away.

The steps felt as natural as breathing, and she let herself get lost in his gaze. There was no longer any question—she was in love with Damon Salvatore, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the sire bond. Circle right, switch hands, circle left, switch hands, both hands up, step, step, move together for the waltz portion. Her eyes still on his, she didn't miss his reaction when the dance finally permitted them to touch. Even though they both wore gloves, so the contact was still indirect, he definitely felt the electricity this time. She heard his heart rate quicken as he breathed in sharply, and she saw his eyes widen and his pupils dilate.

Far too soon, the music stopped, but it wasn't until Stefan and Katherine made their way over to them that they parted and broke eye contact. For Elena, the loss was disorienting.

"Ready to trade?" said Stefan amiably.

"Yes," said Damon, sounding breathless and shaken. "I think so."

"I'll see you again for the sixth," said Katherine to Stefan with a playful grin. She turned to Elena. "How well does the elder Salvatore dance, sister?" she said in a conspiratorial stage whisper. "Should I escape while I still have the chance?"

Damon made a show of appearing wounded by her comment. Elena laughed and said, "No, Damon is a wonderful dance partner." She looked at him and added, "It's such a pity I can only dance one more set with him."

Their eyes met again and his regained the soft, awed quality they'd acquired over the course of the dance. "That set cannot come quickly enough," he said, catching her hand and kissing it for the third time that day.

"Move along, now, you two," said Katherine slyly, "or we'll be in the way when the second set starts."

Stefan, grinning, placed one of Elena's hands on his arm and led her away, while Katherine pulled Damon to their spot in line. "My brother seems quite taken with you," Stefan observed as he and Elena took their places just in time for the first chords of music to fill the hall.

Elena curtseyed and he bowed. "Does he?" she asked vaguely, glancing along the line to where Damon and Katherine had just finished their own bow and curtsey. This dance was a Virginia reel, so it began similarly to the previous one, except that they actually touched hands with their partners as they passed them and switched places.

"Absolutely," said Stefan, smiling. "I hope that doesn't alarm you."

"Oh, no," said Elena. She was finding it impossible to be irritated with this Stefan for what his future self had said and done before she went back in time, even though the mere thought of _Stefan_ being pleased about her and Damon having feelings for each other was beyond surreal. If she was lucky, some of that would stay with him back in the present and he wouldn't give her and Damon so much crap anymore. "I'm quite taken with him as well."

After the reel ended several minutes later, James Fell, a rather cheerful, lively young man, came to ask Elena to dance the next, a Schottische. She smiled politely at him, but her attention was caught by Damon and Stefan standing off to the side, clearly intending not to dance this one. Shoving aside any stirrings of guilt over eavesdropping, she tuned out all the other sounds in the ballroom and focused on their voices.

"You know, I thought you were just escorting Elena to be polite, but now I'm starting to suspect otherwise," said Stefan.

"When I asked her, it was to be polite," said Damon, "and then it was because we've become friends in all this time you've kept Katherine to yourself. But seeing her tonight, dancing with her…"

"You're sure this isn't because she looks like Katherine?" Stefan seemed suspicious.

"No, brother. I'm not the one who has trouble telling them apart, remember?"

"How do you always know so quickly?" Stefan sounded so frustrated that Elena let out a little snort of laughter that made James look at her in concern. She hastily assured him that she was fine and danced on, eager to hear Damon's reply.

"There's something…softer about Elena. She's so sincere, whereas Katherine is always playing a game. It's right there in their faces—can you really not see it?"

"I guess I wasn't looking for it. Is that all that gives it away?"

"Well," said Damon, a trace of sarcasm in his tone now, "has Katherine ever sought you out just to talk to you?"

"Yes, often," said Stefan. "Why?"

The position of the dancers afforded Elena a brief glimpse of Damon's face then. He looked surprised and hurt, though he masked it before she spun away again.

It seemed to take forever before the sixth set arrived and Damon returned to her side to claim her for their second dance, which was a five-step waltz. This one was a little too lively for them to stare into each other's eyes the whole time like they had during the first set, and Elena wasn't familiar enough with the steps to want to risk talking too much, but Damon knew the steps well enough for both of them, and by the end of the set, his face reflected the laughter she knew was shining all over her own.

There was a break after the seventh set ended, and all the guests were promptly provided with champagne glasses. Damon seemed to have been waiting for this, because he moved to the center of the ballroom and spoke above the crowd. "Everyone, will you please join me in raising your glasses to my good friend, George Lockwood." He turned to face the smirking young man with golden-brown hair who was standing near him. "George, thank you for so bravely defending the South."

"My honor, Mr. Salvatore," said George. "After all, someone had to do it." He clinked his glass against Damon's. Everyone else followed suit and took a drink, but it was all Elena could do not to shatter the glass in her hand. The people of Mystic Falls had already made their opinion of Damon's desertion perfectly clear, but she couldn't believe one of his own friends would publicly humiliate him like that when he was trying to do a toast in his honor.

Damon had smiled as if he thought it was a great joke, but as soon as most of the eyes in the room had left him, the smile slid off his face and his jaw clenched. Elena quickly set her full glass down on the nearest surface and tried to catch his eye. It took a moment before he looked at her, and he seemed about to look away again, but she quickly flipped her fan open and held it in her left hand, determinedly maintaining eye contact the whole time. _Come and talk to me_.

He glanced around furtively and began to make his way over to her. "Yes, Elena?" he asked when he reached her side, setting his glass down next to hers.

"I'm tired of this ball," she said. "Can we…go for a walk, or something? I've heard how lovely the Lockwoods' gardens are, and I'd like to see them for myself."

Damon hesitated for a moment as he watched the other people at the ball and Elena wondered if he really would continue subjecting himself to being around them after what had just happened. "Please?" she pressed, "I need some fresh air."

With no further delay, he turned to her and offered his arm as he said, "Then I would be happy to oblige you."

As soon as they were outside, Elena let out the breath she felt like she'd been holding for a while, and she could tell Damon was just as relieved. "Are you okay?" she said once they were a bit farther from the mansion and she was sure no one was near them. "I don't understand why you let them insult you like that."

Damon's jaw tightened again. "That was nothing."

Elena stopped abruptly and pulled on his arm so that he had to stop too and face her. "You're a good man, Damon. I don't think anything less of you because you left the war. George is an idiot, and I don't see how you can call him a friend when he can so blatantly throw your compliment back in your face—" She broke off mid-rant when she saw the expression on Damon's face. It was so tender that she suddenly couldn't remember what she'd been angry about. "What?" she asked.

He chuckled and shook his head, then took her hand and tucked it underneath his arm again. "Tell me something about yourself," he said as they continued walking to the gardens. He'd never asked her anything about herself, not really. She thought for a moment, not sure what she could really tell him, because everything about her life revolved around the present day.

"I like writing," she settled on at last.

"Oh, you do?" said Damon.

"Yes. My mother encouraged me to write when I was younger. I have kept a journal for a long time."

"If you write so often," he said shrewdly, "why have I never seen you doing it?"

"All my journals burned in the fire," Elena said. It was getting easier to tell these lies about her and Katherine's past all the time. "I haven't really felt like writing after it happened."

"Elena…I'm sorry," Damon said.

She waved her free hand. "It's all right. I _can_ talk about it, you know. And the journals are nothing. I think, most of all, I miss my younger brother."

They remained silent for a moment, and Elena felt herself leaning her head against Damon's shoulders as they walked through the gardens. She couldn't have asked for a more romantic setting. There were fountains and rose bushes and statues, all arranged with taste and elegance, and lit by just enough lamps to show it off, but not so many that it ruined the peaceful atmosphere with too much light.

"Would you tell me about your brother?" Damon asked. "Katherine has never spoken of your siblings. Until I met you, I had no idea one of her sisters was her twin."

Elena sighed, trying to think of a way to translate Jeremy into the nineteenth century. She obviously wouldn't be mentioning anything about his pothead phase, nor that he had straightened himself out and become a supernaturally enhanced vampire hunter.

"He loved to draw," she said eventually. "Jeremy was a year younger than Katherine and me, but he was an amazing artist. Of course, Father wanted him to take over his plantation when he was old enough." Elena sighed, thinking of her parents. "I miss them so much."

* * *

Damon and Elena talked to each other in the gardens for a long time. Elena had been afraid to let him know much about her, but she managed to navigate the conversation without letting anything slip about the future while still being as open as possible with him. It had always been so easy to talk to Damon, and she the walk had the added bonus of allowing her plenty of extra time alone with him that she wouldn't have had if they'd remained at the ball, dancing with different partners for the rest of the sets.

Leaving the carriage behind for Stefan and Katherine, they walked the fairly short distance back to the Salvatore mansion. Far too soon, it seemed, they were standing in front of Elena's bedroom door. Elena didn't want the night to end.

"Tell me," Damon said, "how long do you think you and Katherine will be staying in Mystic Falls?"

The question caught Elena off-guard. "Um…we wouldn't want to overstay our welcome," she said, glancing down and smoothing her skirts. "I believe Katherine is trying to see if there is some other family member who might come to retrieve us. I certainly don't want you, your brother, or your father to think we're taking advantage—"

Damon gently placed a finger over her lips to silence her, and she looked up at him in surprise.

"That will never happen," he said.

Elena found herself staring into his eyes again. What was it about his eyes? How could they draw her into him so easily? Damon moved his finger from her lips and caressed her cheek with his thumb.

Her breath caught in her throat. He was leaning down, he was going to kiss her….

"Annie, if you don't do as I say, I swear I'll make sure you spend the week cleaning out the barn!"

"Emily Bennett, I'm not supposed to be doing _any _of this! I'm the Salvatores' housemaid, not the Pierces' lady's maid!"

Elena and Damon jump apart at the sound of Emily and Annie snapping at each other as they stomped up the stairs. The two women froze when they saw Elena and Damon.

"Master Damon!" Annie squeaked, all her bluster gone in an instant. "Miss Elena! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"Hush!" Emily hissed, seizing the stammering girl about the shoulders and half-dragging her into Katherine's room.

Damon chuckled. "Those two have been at each other's throats all day."

"You should have seen them when they were trying to get us ready for the ball," said Elena with a giggle.

The moment from before Emily and Annie had intruded was gone, but Elena was going to salvage whatever she could of it now that they were alone in the hallway again. Before she could second-guess herself for doing something so modern, she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around Damon tightly. Clearly surprised, it took a few seconds before he hugged her back. Elena clung to him for a good long moment before pulling away, her hands on his forearms, his on her waist.

"I had a wonderful time with you tonight at the ball," she said, smiling warmly up at him.

"I did, as well," Damon said.

Worried that they'd only be interrupted again if he made another attempt to kiss her, Elena reached up quickly and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you in the morning," she said, and, little though she wanted to, quickly darted into her bedroom.

* * *

Black_Dove: Phew! This was a doozy. I _loved _working on this chapter. We've been working on it all week. To the guest reviewer: Which other story of mine have you read? I've got a lot of Buffy fanfiction on the site, as does Taaroko. Since I can't reply to anonymous reviews, could you be more specific next time? Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews from the next chapter! I'm gonna hold off on replying to them until you've all had a chance to read this chapter. :) I loved adding the bit about knitting too—I'm a knitter/crocheter, myself and I think I nearly talked Taaroko's ear off til she agreed.

Taaroko: Okay, guys, I know you want to review this one. It was way longer than usual, with lots of Damon/Elena. And we really deserve a reward for all the research that went into writing that ball. Plus, I took the GRE yesterday and have to work a double tomorrow. *puppy eyes*

_In case you were wondering, here are the links to Elena's dress and our source for information on the ball (be sure to delete the spaces when you copy the links. If there are any problems, don't hesitate to PM me!) : _

**The link to the language of the fan:**

12thscladiesaux. * tripod. /id22. html

**Elena's dress:**

img3. etsystatic. * /000/ 0/ 5892430/ il_ fullxfull. 263761711. jpg

farm7. staticflickr. * /6131/ 6020046502_ c1b396fc1c_ z. jpg

*this is where the "com" goes in all three links.


	9. Chapter Nine

Flopsy is our Cheese Man. Props if you understand our reference.

And Happy New Year!

* * *

Chapter Nine

It wasn't even a few minutes later and a small knock sounded on Elena's door.

"Elena? May I come in?" came Emily's voice.

"Oh, yeah, come on in," said Elena, opening the door for her.

"Did you have a good night at the ball?" Emily was grinning rather slyly, and Elena gave her an annoyed look. She knew damn well Elena had had a good time, especially considering what she and Annie had interrupted. Still, thinking back over the evening, Elena found herself smiling.

"I did have a good time…I worried for no reason about the ball."

Emily moved behind Elena and started removing her skirt and bodice. "Of course you had nothing to worry about."

"You really were at Annie's throat today. You should be nicer!"

Emily snorted, and even though Elena couldn't see the expression on her face, she was pretty sure she was rolling her eyes too. Next, her over petticoat came off, and then the hoop skirt, and then the under petticoats and camisole. Elena remained quiet as Emily made quick work of removing the corset, and as soon as it was loose, Elena took in a deep breath, loving how little she ached with this dress compared to all of Katherine's. As usual, Emily turned around while Elena removed her chemise and pantalets and slipped into her nightdress. After that, Emily braided Elena's hair so it wouldn't tangle as she slept, then left the room.

It was only a few seconds after Elena got into bed that she heard footsteps on the stairs, accompanied by Stefan's and Katherine's voices. She paid no attention at first, but it wasn't long before their tones had her listening in spite of herself.

"So, I gather I'm wanted?" said Katherine in a softer version of the playful manner in which she usually spoke to him.

"Uh, very much so," said Stefan with a warm, if slightly nervous laugh. "I know…we've only known each other for a short while, and I know I'm in competition for your affections, but I've never met a woman quite like you. I look at you…and I see an angel. I touch your skin, and my entire body ignites. I kiss you, and I know that I'm falling in love."

Elena's breath caught in her throat, and tears suddenly sprang to her eyes. She knew Stefan was kissing Katherine.

There was no doubt in Elena's mind that she was in love with Damon. As soon as she got home, she would do whatever it took to convince him of that, sire bond be damned. But even if her and Stefan's "epic love" felt like it happened in a different life—and in a way, it had—, it hadn't really been so very long ago. To hear him profess his love for Katherine in such a heartfelt, honest, pure way…it hurt. And the strange thing was that he was actually a teenager now in mind as well as body, but what he'd just said to Katherine sounded more real than any declaration he'd ever made to her.

"I am in love with you," he murmured, and Elena could picture him cupping Katherine's face in his hands. No, he had definitely never said that to Elena that way. There had always been something safe, something…hollow about it. She'd been a human girl in love with a vampire, but never willing to spend forever with him. Never even willing to discuss the possibility until it seemed she had no choice. And once forever became her reality, when everything should have fallen into place, it only fell apart. Somewhere in the middle, Damon had snuck up on her. He was the love that consumed her, and Katherine was the love that consumed Stefan.

Elena barely registered the rest of Stefan and Katherine's conversation, but she had barely heard the sounds of two separate bedroom doors closing when glass shattered against the other side of her bedroom wall. Oh God, Damon. He must have heard them talking too.

Elena didn't think twice. She leapt out of bed, threw on her dressing gown, and left her room. The hallway was deserted, so she closed her door as quietly as possible and hurried to Damon's, which she opened without knocking, and walked inside. She caught a brief glimpse of Damon, wearing a black dressing gown over his long cotton undergarments, standing with one hand over his eyes and the other braced against the side of his armoire before she shut the door and he rounded angrily on her. As soon as he saw who the intruder was, though, the fight went out of him. He looked as heartbroken as he would one hundred and forty-five years from now, on the night he would realize Katherine wasn't in the tomb.

"Elena…."

Without a word, she walked over to Damon and hugged him. She could smell the bourbon on him, and over his shoulder she saw the shards of the glass he'd thrown scattered across the floor. It was a few seconds before he returned the hug, clinging to her with all the desperation and pain she knew he was feeling. When he spoke, though, none of it was audible in his voice. "Stefan is pathetic," he sneered. "Did you hear them too?"

Elena nodded against his shoulder. She swallowed. It was his feelings that mattered now—she didn't even belong here. She could do this. She could be there for him. "I know you love her, Damon."

He said nothing, but he didn't let her go. She started to feel a little nervous; she knew he'd been drinking, but she didn't know how much. Gently, she pulled away and stepped back. She didn't know how human Damon dealt with heartbreak, but she knew how present day Damon did. It was usually with a lot of bad decisions and blood, rage, and destruction. If any part of that was in him now, then there was no way she was leaving him to deal with it on his own.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" she asked, before she could talk herself out of it. It was stupid, not to mention ridiculously bold.

He looked at her, surprised, and she realized as he opened his mouth what that must have sounded like. "Just to sleep," she clarified hastily, blushing. She looked down and wrapped her arms around herself. "I don't…I don't want to be alone tonight."

"Of course," he said quietly.

* * *

This time Bonnie was holding Flopsy, not Caroline, and she wore a beige dress, 1864 style. Something Emily would wear. She also wore the necklace Damon had thought would free Katherine from the tomb. Her hair was tucked up in a bonnet, and Flopsy lounged lazily in her arms. Elena looked around and realized they were in a clearing in the woods, not one building in sight, and it was the middle of the day.

"Bonnie?"

Bonnie pulled a carrot from her dress offered it to Flopsy. "Hey Elena!" she said.

"Why are you dressed this way?"

"Why am I dressed this way?" Bonnie asked. She looked really offended. "Why are you dressed _that _way?"

Elena looked down at her clothing. She was dressed in the same jeans and shirt she wore the day she was dropped in 1864 with no hope of getting back home until Emily could perform the spell on the compass.

"I don't know," Elena said, confused. "I just want to find Damon."

Flopsy munched happily on his carrot while the girls spoke with each other.

Caroline and Stefan stomped nosily into their clearing, Caroline in the dress she'd worn to the parade, and Stefan still in his evening wear from the ball. "Oh no you don't!" said Bonnie, backing away. "You aren't going to eat Flopsy!"

"I'm not here to eat the damn rabbit," Stefan said impatiently. "You can't keep searching for Damon, Elena."

A loud, indignant sniff made Bonnie, Caroline, Elena, and Stefan turn to the right.

"What are you doing here?" It was Rose. Her hair was upswept into an elegant mass of curls, her dress made from a beautiful red satin. "Katerina is waiting for you to escort her, Stefan. You're being quite rude, you know."

Stefan snorted.

"Flopsy!" Bonnie gasped. "That was mean!" The rabbit had kicked and scratched Bonnie until she dropped him to the floor. Unfazed, the rabbit sniffed around, standing on his hind legs with his front feet tucked in tightly against his little body.

Then he ran.

"Elena," Rose said. "What are you waiting for? He's going to take you to Damon. You mustn't be late."

"Oh," said Elena. "Thank you!" She ran after the bunny, but suddenly realized she was back in Katherine's green and white dress. She picked up her skirts and tried to hurry on, but the corset was so tight. She paused, leaning against a tree, trying to catch her breath, but when she made to go on, Flopsy was nowhere to be seen.

"How am I going to find him now?" she asked hopelessly.

* * *

Consciousness returned gradually, allowing Elena to appreciate how truly comfortable she felt. She was lying under warm covers with Damon, her head tucked in the crook of his shoulder, his arm draped across her stomach. She inhaled the lingering smell of bourbon with a smile. The question of whether he was awake or not was answered when he moved the hand on her stomach up to brush a few strands of hair away from her face. She could feel his gaze on her and opened her eyes so that she could look into his beautiful blue ones. The eye contact lasted for mere seconds before his flickered to her lips, and she didn't offer the slightest protest when he pulled her closer to him and leaned down to kiss her.

Elena sighed contentedly and kissed him back. Kisses from Damon were so lovely in the morning…

He was kissing her, and it was wonderful. But there was something wrong. This was _human _Damon. 1864 Damon. She gasped and pulled away from him.

"Damon, what are you doing?" she whispered.

"Kissing you," he said, pulling her to him again, but Elena pushed him away and sat up.

"Last night you threw a glass against the wall because your brother told Katherine he's in love with her," she said, pulling her nightclothes tighter around her, suddenly appreciating the head-to-toe coverage they offered. "I won't be your rebound, Damon."

"My what?" Damon asked, sitting up as well, still looking a little groggy. "Elena, what are you talking about?"

Oh. Right. Rebound. A term coined sometime next century, no doubt. "You're hurt because of what's going on between Katherine and your brother," she said. "But there's no way your feelings for her are gone, and I'm not just going to be your substitute for—"

Damon wordlessly put an end to her tirade by grabbing her and kissing her again, pulling her into his lap. It really didn't help that there was no part of her that didn't want to be kissing him, especially when he seemed so keen to be kissing her. She should pull away from him, but he was so _persistent_, and she surrendered in a matter of seconds.

He ended the kiss this time, panting and resting his forehead against hers. "I'm not kissing you because you remind me of your sister."

Tears began to well up in Elena's eyes, but she forced them back. "Damon…I—"

"Good morning, brother," came Stefan's unusually chipper voice, before it abruptly changed to surprise. "What's this?"

Elena sprang out of the bed and away from Damon, almost falling flat on her face in her haste. "Stefan," she said with a very forced smile when she righted herself. "Good morning."

Stefan looked from her to Damon and back again, obviously waiting for an explanation. Damon failed to offer one, and Elena felt so much heat rising in her cheeks that she felt sure steam would be coming out of her ears soon, so she took matters into her own hands. "I—um—I had a nightmare." She winced. She was such a _horrible _liar. "Damon heard me when I was crying last night—and—um, we kind of just fell asleep, and—bye!"

As quickly as she could at a human pace, Elena dashed past Stefan out the open door, nearly knocking into him on the way.

"_Thanks, _Stefan," she heard Damon say irritably when she reached her own room.

_What _had she been thinking? She had let Damon kiss her again. At least he'd known it was her this time, but still!

She almost wanted to listen in on what Damon and Stefan were saying to each other, but she forced herself to block it out. It was barely past sunrise and she'd already had enough drama to last her the rest of the day. She didn't know if Katherine was still sleeping or not, and she wasn't sure where Giuseppe was. She didn't want anyone else to know she had been in Damon's room the night before. On top of that was the larger issue of changing the past, because her and Damon kissing in eighteen sixty-four was definitely not how the story was supposed to go. Where had she lost sight of her determination to be his friend here and nothing more?

Elena didn't have long to dwell on this, because a few minutes later, an exceptionally angry Katherine came barging in.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you," she hissed after closing Elena's door with a snap and stalking menacingly towards her. "I've fallen _in love _with Stefan, and it's all your fault!"

* * *

_Flashback—Elena's first night at Salvatore Mansion_

_It was still the middle of the night, but Katherine had no intention of waiting until morning, when Emily would to come to her to help her into her day dress. Instead, she headed straight for the servants' quarters near the kitchen on the ground floor and entered the room where Emily and her children slept without knocking. Their entire room could have fit inside Katherine's closet, and they all shared one bed that was smaller than any of the four-posters upstairs. _

_Tara and Benjamin were both sound asleep, but Emily was sitting in the rickety rocking chair on the other side of the bed from the door, holding Addy and singing to her under her breath. When Emily saw Katherine, she stood without a word and carefully deposited Addy back on the bed, where she curled up and stuck her thumb in her mouth, her eyes closed. Emily kissed her tenderly on the forehead before straightening up and facing Katherine. Katherine left, knowing Emily would follow, and returned to her own room. Once they were both inside, she shut the door._

"_You spoke to Elena while I was hunting," she said. _

"_I did," said Emily. "I see you found a different way of learning the truth about her."_

"_How do you know what she told you was the truth?" said Katherine dryly._

"_She was desperate, confused, and frightened, and we both saw how dreadful she is at lying."_

_Katherine snorted. "If she really thought we bought that nonsense, then I'm insulted." Sobering, she looked at Emily again. "You don't think she's a threat?"_

"_I think she is lost and wants nothing more than to return home."_

"_She said it would be a while before you could send her back," said Katherine. "Why?"_

_Emily sighed. "She came here because of magic I haven't performed yet. Once I have spelled the object that sent her here, I will know how to reverse the process."_

_Katherine shrugged. "Why bother? I could just kill her now and save you the trouble."_

_Emily cast Katherine a look that was entirely too knowing, but the sly comment about the Salvatore brothers that Katherine was expecting never came. "You can't kill her when she's out of her own time. Nature would not appreciate one of its creatures dying before she was even born." _

"_Come now, nature can hardly appreciate that creature being free to meddle in a time that isn't her own, can it?" Katherine scoffed._

"_No," Emily conceded, "but there are safeguards I can use to ensure everything in our time remains as it should be, regardless of her actions."_

"_What safeguards?" said Katherine sharply._

"_Elena was terrified at the thought that she might change the past by being here. I believe things will work out how they are meant to, regardless of what she does, but I promised her that if it seemed necessary, I would make everyone forget she was here once she returned to her time."_

_Katherine was silent for a moment as she digested this. "Good," she said at last. "This could actually work to my advantage, then."_

"_How so?" said Emily._

_Katherine chuckled. "Elena is in love with one of the Salvatore brothers in her time, but she isn't sure which it is. If she's as open-hearted and sincere as you believe her to be, then she'll be easy to manipulate. As fast as I am, even I can't be in two places at once, and unless I want to compel the Salvatores until their brains turn to mush, they're bound to get suspicious before long. With the help of my dear sister, I can keep both Stefan and Damon occupied until it's time to turn them. Then Elena will go back to her time, you'll work your magic, and they'll forget all about her, leaving me the sole keeper of their affections."_

"_Always two steps ahead aren't you?" said Emily in mild exasperation._

"_It's why you and your brother are still alive," Katherine pointed out. _

"_I have not forgotten," said Emily. "You will always have my loyalty for what you've done for my family."_

_Katherine nodded. "I know you don't approve of my relationship with the Salvatores—" _

"_No, I don't," said Emily sharply. "Those two boys love each other very much, and what you're doing can only hurt them in the long run."_

"_That may be," said Katherine with a triumphant smirk, "but there's no turning back now that I know they're both vampires in Elena's time." _

_Emily pursed her lips. "I should be getting back. Addy doesn't sleep well without me there." _

_She turned to leave, and Katherine didn't stop her, but her hand had barely reached the doorknob when she froze. "Katherine," she said._

"_What?"_

"_Erasing the memories of Elena will only do so much to preserve our time from her lasting influence." Emily turned to look Katherine directly in the eyes. "I know that your regard for human life is…selective at best, but you cannot, under any circumstances, allow Elena to lose herself and take a life when feeding. You will have to watch her carefully. I believe her when she says she has no wish to harm anyone, and I do feel she will make every effort to restrain herself, but she may slip, and if that happens—"_

"_I'll have to catch her before she hits the ground," said Katherine, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "Very well."_

* * *

Before Katherine could take another step towards Elena, she let out a groan of pain and collapsed to the floor, clutching her head in her hands. Emily entered the room, her eyes fixed on Katherine, who was glaring resentfully at her in her agony. "What did I tell you about killing time travelers, Katherine?" she said in the sort of tone one used to scold a misbehaving child.

"How can it possibly be my fault that you're in love with Stefan?" said Elena.

Emily released Katherine from her spell and Katherine got back to her feet at once, turning her glare on Elena.

"Because without you here," she said, "I would have spent equal time with both Stefan _and_ Damon, and I never would have been able to develop these _feelings_ for Stefan." She hadn't even begun to get ready for the day, still clad only in her own nightdress and dressing gown, her hair braided much like Elena's. "You're ruining everything! _They_ were supposed to fall in love with me—both of them! I was merely going to have my fun, but now Damon is smitten with you Stefan is all I can think about!"

"It's not my fault!" Elena insisted. "Your feelings for Stefan would have happened even if I'd never come here. The only thing that's different is Damon!"

Katherine opened her mouth to argue, but Emily held up a hand. "Enough! Love is no reason for the two of you to lose your wits." She turned to Elena. "Elena, I promise you that no matter what you do, you cannot change the past into something it isn't meant to be. And you!" She rounded on Katherine. "Let Elena be in love with Damon. It is no real loss to you; you and I both know you were always far more interested in his little brother."

"I'm really not going to change the past if I let something happen with Damon?" Elena felt tears spring to her eyes.

"Not a bit," said Emily.

Katherine made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a snarl. "We should talk about this later."

"Yes, you should," Emily said, suddenly sounding businesslike. "Because right now, I have to prepare you both for your knitting group. Come along, Katherine. Elena, please wait while I get your sister ready for the day."

* * *

**BlackDove**: I originally wanted the chapter longer, but Taaroko is going on a skiing trip with her family. We decided to end it where it is—probably a good thing. This thing was turning into a long monster like the last. The sheer amount of reviews we got on the last chapter blew my mind away—I could barely work the next day without getting an email causing my iPhone to buzz! Thank you so much for the reviews, and favorites and everything. I, personally, had a rough year, so all the lovely comments make my day when I see them. :)

We have a very, very fun scene in store for the next chapter, but you'll all have to wait for it 'til next year. :P (Don't freak out, I have three days off and nothing but time to write). Be sure to leave a review!

By the way, Taaroko does have a page of her own. I just wanted to give a shout out to my lovely co-writer is a damn good author. I know she doesn't have any TVD fics posted yet (unless she's snuck one up I haven't heard about yet) but I know she's written for other genres shows/books. I think I've got her in my favorite authors-if not, her Season 8 and 9 are definitely under my favorite stories.

**Taaroko**: To an anonymous reviewer (and this could apply to anyone else who has doubts): Stefan has a harder time seeing the difference between Katherine and Elena because, unlike Damon, he has only spent a significant amount of time with Katherine. Damon has seen enough of Elena to be able to tell the difference. Plus, Stefan *is* just a sixteen-year-old kid here. He's not going to have the same kind of insight he has a century and a half later.


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

"You still haven't figured out how to cast on?" Katherine asked in exasperation.

"Well, I haven't exactly had time to knit, have I," said Elena crossly, "with the ball and your death threats this morning?"

They were sitting in the Salvatores' carriage, which was taking them to the Forbes home for their knitting group. Elena felt so nervous—she hadn't had a chance to really start her project yet. She had hoped she could at least cast on so she could fake the rest of the knitting. It wouldn't be too hard if she could just get going. For the knit stitch, all she had to do was put the needle through the front loop, yarn under with her new yarn, and then pull it through and drop the old stitch, but Elena still hadn't gotten to that part yet.

Katherine lifted one of her eyebrows and held out her hands. "Give me the yarn and needles. I'll start it off, and try to explain this to you one more time."

Elena gladly handed over the mess she'd made the day before. "Good luck unknotting it."

"This…this won't do," Katherine said irritably. She reached into a basket she had set next to them with several more balls of yarn. Elena watched her as she worked after, fascinated as she made a little loop, put it on a needle, and then took two strands of yarn between her index finger and thumb and started to cast on. "We're going to do eighteen stitches; it'll do well enough for a simple scarf." Katherine said. "I'll do a few rows so you won't have to worry about starting it."

Elena leaned back in the carriage. "Thank you," she said, sighing in relief.

"Oh, don't thank me just yet," said Katherine dryly. "We'll be ripping it out once we get back so that you can do it all over again."

Elena wasn't so thrilled about that, but knew it was pointless to argue, so she changed the subject. "What do you think the ladies will be talking about?"

Katherine was vamp-speed knitting now with the yarn—she was already on the second row. Elena didn't even pretend to know how she was so good at it. "I'm sure the animal attacks will be at the forefront of everyone's minds," she said without looking up from her knitting.

"What do you already know about them?" said Elena.

"Well, while you and Damon were making eyes at each other last night, Henry approached me. He'd done a little investigating. If it had really been animal attacks, we'd have nothing to worry about, but unfortunately, the creature responsible is a werewolf." Elena remembered Henry from when Katherine had taken her to meet all the other vampires who lived in town the previous week. They had all been happy to meet her and had accepted the story that she was Katherine's twin sister who hadn't seen her in decades without question. It had been incredibly surreal to be introduced to Pearl and Anna. She wished she could do something to change their fates in 2010. The rest of the vampires in town might become crazed with their desire for revenge against the founding families after their long imprisonment in the tomb, but Pearl had never been a threat, and neither had Anna once the two of them had been reunited.

"Who, George Lockwood?" Elena said. The sound of knitting needles ceased for moment. Off Katherine's look of mingled surprise and suspicion, she went on, "I've met a couple of Lockwood werewolves in my time. One of them is dating—uh, courting—my best friend." No need to specify that he was technically a hybrid now.

"Ah," said Katherine, resuming knitting, if at a marginally slower place. "Well then, yes, as a matter of fact. It is George. I suppose his curse was activated while he was bravely defending the South, as Damon put it."

Elena's jaw clenched at the reminder of George's rudeness to Damon, but she said nothing, choosing to merely watch Katherine's needles fly through the yarn.

"Anyway," Katherine continued, "the others and I have managed to keep our heads down since we settled here in the spring, not killing any of the locals and using Emily's jewelry so that we can walk in the daylight, but by Henry's account, only a fool would believe that whatever attacked those people was just an animal, and unfortunately, the founders are no fools. However, George is one of them. We newcomers will fall under suspicion far sooner than he will."

"And I'm the newest of us all," said Elena with resignation. "So if anyone has to make nice with the community, it's me."

"Precisely," said Katherine. "Now then," she scooted to the edge of her seat and carefully passed the knitting back to Elena, showing her how to hold it, "I think this should do—let's have you do a row so you don't drop any stitches in the middle of the meeting and then get lost when you can't cast back on."

* * *

Damon and Stefan walked side-by-side. They were dressed in simple work clothes and carried lunch pails prepared for them by Jess. Their father might be a wealthy businessman, but he never forgot the hard work that made him so successful, and he insisted that his sons see that side of business on a regular basis, so that they would always appreciate the reason they were able to live in such comfort. Today, they would be working at the logging camp a few miles out of town that supplied the trees for Salvatore Lumber.

"So. Want to tell me what I walked in on this morning?" said Stefan.

"Nothing improper," said Damon.

Stefan snorted. "You had Miss Elena in your bed, and you expect me to believe that it was nothing improper?"

"Yes," said Damon. "She came to my room last night after we returned from the ball, and she said she couldn't bear to be on her own. I could hardly refuse her; she looked like she was about to cry. She's my friend, Stefan, and I respect her. I would never take advantage of her." Stefan didn't need to know about the kisses they'd shared, or the fact that he'd been drinking before she came in.

"Still, you're lucky I'm the one who found you." Stefan looked at Damon shrewdly. "When are you going to ask her if you can court her?"

Damon was silent for a moment. "Soon," he said. He noticed Stefan scowling. "What is it?"

"I hate not being of age," he grumbled.

"Oh?" said Damon, smirking. "Why, do you have big plans?"

"None that I can act on until I'm eighteen."

"They involve Katherine, don't they?" said Damon quietly.

Stefan looked half guilty, half defiant. "Yes." He glanced at Damon, guilty winning the battle for dominance in his expression. "I know how much you cared about her before you went to war, but…" Defiant regained some ground. "I love her, Damon, and I think she loves me."

Damon closed his eyes for a few seconds. The pain wasn't as raw as it had been last night, but it definitely wasn't gone. He only wished Katherine had had the decency to tell him she was no longer interested in him before switching to his brother. But then, Katherine did love attention, and she'd probably led Damon on so that Stefan would have to fight for her. If not for the contrast Elena provided with her kindness and openness, he might not have recognized what Katherine was doing.

"Patience, little brother," he said. "You only have a year and two months until you turn eighteen. If you're right about her feelings, she'll wait for you. And you _can_ at least court her until then."

He felt a twinge of guilt about not telling his brother how intimate he and Katherine had been in the spring. Katherine obviously hadn't admitted it, or Stefan wouldn't be treating him in such a friendly way.

* * *

"So, Miss Elena, what are you working on there?" said Miss Susanne Forbes, the eldest of three Forbes girls—all of whom, along with their mother, were responsible for organizing this particular knitting circle meeting. None of them looked particularly like Caroline, which Elena found helpful, because that probably would have been more of a distraction than her knitting skills could withstand.

"A scarf, Miss Forbes," said Elena with a smile as devoid of anxiety as she could make it. Her scarf seemed to be one of the least ambitious projects in the large sitting room. There were several half-made sweaters, a few blankets—one of which was clearly going to end up being gorgeous and very elaborate—, some socks and hats, and a couple of other scarves, though they definitely looked more complex than her own.

"She's planning to give it to Damon when it's finished," said Katherine slyly. This set off a chorus of gasps and giggles amongst all the ladies present, and Elena knew her cheeks were bright red.

"Damon Salvatore?" said Miss Lucy Fell, wrinkling her nose. "Surely you can do better than a deserter."

"Come, Lucy," said her sister Sarah, "Damon does have one thing no other man has, when it comes to Elena."

"What's that?" said Lucy.

"Geographic desirability. After all, she's sleeping in the room next to his."

"Girls," said Mrs. Fell with a stern look at her daughters.

Elena was clutching her knitting needles so tightly that they were in danger of snapping. "Was that really necessary?" she said, so quietly that only Katherine would hear her.

"Well, I must have _some_ compensation in exchange for allowing you to pursue Damon," said Katherine just as quietly.

"You and Miss Elena looked lovely at the ball last night," said Margaret Gilbert, Johnathan's sister-in-law, with a sweet, sincere smile.

"Thank you, Mrs. Gilbert," said Katherine.

"Yes, thank you," Elena agreed, returning Margaret's smile. She remembered reading what had happened to Margaret and her husband, Thomas, in Johnathan's journals from after the founders trapped the vampires in the church. They'd both been murdered by Stefan. Except it hadn't happened yet. Elena wondered how many more of the women here were doomed to die in the coming months.

"The ball last night was absolutely wonderful, Mrs. Lockwood," said Carol Robinson. Several other voices chimed in their agreement.

"Why thank you," said Mrs. Lockwood, beaming. "I'm happy to say that Mr. Lockwood enjoyed it so much that I shouldn't have any trouble convincing him to host more like it. We might even make it an annual affair."

"Oh, that would be marvelous!" said Mrs. Fell, to another chorus of agreement.

"Has your husband told you anything else about what happened to those poor people in the woods the other day?" Lucille Martin asked Mrs. Lockwood. Elena glanced at Katherine, but Katherine was watching Mrs. Lockwood with the same interest as everyone else in the room.

"Oh, yes," said Mrs. Lockwood with an odd gleam in her eye, "but I hardly think it's something I can discuss here."

"Go on," said Mrs. Forbes eagerly, "we're not as delicate as the men all believe. Let's hear it." Several other women nodded their agreement.

"Well," said Mrs. Lockwood, her pretense of reluctance evaporating instantly as she leaned forward in her seat, lowering her knitting to her lap, "My Jacob thinks it might not have been a bear after all."

"What then," said Miss Forbes. "A cougar?"

"Not a cougar either," said Mrs. Lockwood. "It appears that Mystic Falls may be playing host to a monster." Gasps went around the room, and the conversation broke into several smaller groups of whisperers. Mrs. Lockwood clearly reveled in the effect she had created. Elena frowned slightly as she looked at her. If she could speak so openly of the attacks and actually be the one to suggest that an animal hadn't been responsible, then she must not know that her own son was behind them. Perhaps he was the only Lockwood who'd activated his curse.

"It's a horrible thought, isn't it?" said Margaret. Elena jumped and looked around at her.

"Oh, yes, very horrible," she agreed.

"I hope this won't make you and your sister seek refuge in another town."

"No," said Elena, smiling again at Margaret's thoughtfulness. "I'm sure that whatever attacked those people will be dealt with before anyone else is harmed."

Margaret lowered her voice. "I think Mr. Salvatore will love the scarf, Miss Elena."

Elena's smile widened. "If I can finish it, perhaps," she said. "My sister is far better at this than I am." They both laughed, and Elena began to feel hopeful that she might befriend someone from her own family—she didn't like to count Katherine, who fell more in the "frenemy" category.

Just then, two little Forbes boys, probably no older than seven and nine, came bursting into the room, pursued by a rather out-of-breath nanny. "Matthew! Robert!" cried Mrs. Forbes, jumping to her feet so quickly that she neglected the scissors she'd been cutting her yarn with, and they glanced across her left palm. She promptly dropped everything and clasped her right hand over the injury, still staring at her sons. "I told you that you weren't to come in the sitting room while company was still here."

"I'm so sorry I lost track of them, Missus," said the nanny.

"Don't worry about it, Grace, I know who's to blame," said Mrs. Forbes, freezing the two boys in their tracks with her stern gaze.

A few of the other women were giggling behind their hands at this scene, but Elena had gone rigid, her eyes fixed on Mrs. Forbes's left hand. The blood wasn't visible, but she could smell it. She was just beginning to feel the pressure in her teeth and the skin tightening under her eyes when her vision was abruptly blocked by Katherine. "Are you feeling well, sister?"

Coming to her senses a little, Elena looked up at Katherine's face. "No," she said, grateful for the quick save. "I'm actually feeling rather faint."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," said Margaret in concern while Katherine turned to make their excuses to Mrs. Forbes. "I do hope we'll see each other again soon."

"Of course," said Elena, managing a strained smile.

* * *

"Oh God, I think I was about a second away from attacking that woman right in front of the whole room," said Elena once they were safely back in their carriage, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Perhaps if you'd been in your own bed last night, I would have been able to take you hunting after the ball," said Katherine sardonically.

Elena blushed beet red. She'd forgotten all about hunting. Being with Damon had driven it completely out of her mind.

"Let's just…find someone, quickly."

Twenty minutes later, Elena was gaping at Katherine. Well, this was a new hunting experience. Then again, maybe not so new. She remembered the first time she ever met Damon. It had been in the middle of the road, after she called her parents to come pick her up from the party she had been to when she got into an argument with Matt. Damon had been standing in the middle of the road and she had been mystified as to why.

"You want me to what?" Elena asked.

"I want you to lie on the ground and act like you are unconscious," Katherine said.

"Why?"

It was certainly a break with tradition. So far, they'd mostly just lurked beside the road and ambushed passing carriages, or else gone to nearby towns.

"We're going to have some fun, Elena," Katherine drawled out. "Just lay on the ground."

"This is really finding someone quickly?"

"You, dear sister, were the one who couldn't handle missing one meal. There are many different ways to hunt, and this is simply one more of them. _Lie down._"

Elena huffed, picked up her skirts, and tried to find a way to lie on the ground without the hoop skirt catching her awkwardly as she lowered herself to the ground. She really didn't feel like getting her dress dirty, either, but the look Katherine gave her told her she had no choice in the matter. Elena lay down and closed her eyes.

She heard it everything. A carriage drew to a halt not ten minutes later, and two men jumped from the carriage to a panicked Katherine.

"My sister!" Katherine cried. "She was knocked out when we were attacked in our carriage, and she won't wake up!"

Elena had to bite back a laugh.

She could smell the blood the minute Katherine bit into the first man's neck. Oblivious to his friend's predicament, the other man had rushed to Elena's side and brushed her hair from her face.

"Miss? Miss?"

Elena didn't wait. She was up in a flash, and pulled down the man's collar and then sank her teeth into his neck.

Elena had wanted to attack those women at the knitting group when Mrs. Forbes cut her hand. It would have been so easy…after Mrs. Forbes, she would have gone for the Fell girls for being so snide about Damon. At the thought of that, Elena bit down harder into the man's neck and moaned as the coppery blood slid down her throat. She didn't know his name. She didn't know anything about him—she just knew he was struggling and she had her hand clapped over his mouth so he could not scream too loudly.

"Elena, you need to stop," Katherine said.

Elena barely registered her voice as she continued feeding, sinking her fangs in even deeper, making his blood gush into her mouth.

"Ow! What the hell?" Elena cried indignantly as Katherine pulled her away from the man by her hair.

"You were going to kill him!" Katherine said, hauling Elena farther away.

"I—I what?" Elena's eyes widened as her surroundings became clearer and she realized what she had done. She gasped and her hands flew to her bloodstained mouth, the tears already starting. "Is—Katherine, did I kill somebody?"

Now that Elena was back in control, Katherine walked over to the man. "If I hadn't gotten to you in time, you might have." She knelt down and turned the man onto his back. With a movement that was oddly dainty, she slit a wrist open on her fangs and brought it to the man's mouth. Elena closed her eyes and turned her head away. His blood still called to her. She pictured shoving Katherine out of the way so that she could resume her feast, and it took all her resolve to resist.

* * *

"Are you still upset about Stefan?"

Elena had to ask. The way Katherine had barged into her bedroom and threatened to kill her that morning was fresh in her mind, and now that she had gotten a chance to feed and be away from everything else, she couldn't help thinking of it again.

Katherine immediately tensed up as Elena walked beside her into the Salvatore home. It wasn't something Elena would have noticed a few weeks ago, but the strangest thing was that part of her was starting to actually care.

"Of course not," said Katherine. "Why, did you want me to apologize for trying to kill you? Because that would still be my first option if not for Emily and her laws of nature." In other circumstances, that might have been a fairly intimidating threat, but instead it just came off as an irritable attempt to get rid of her.

Yeah—Elena needed to do something about this. She didn't say a word as she brushed past Katherine and went straight into Damon's room.

"What on earth are you doing?" Katherine hissed, checking the hall for servants. "I understand you became quite comfortable with Mr. Salvatore last night, but this is hardly appropriate."

"Damon loves bourbon in the future." Elena paused for about five seconds before she started riffling through Damon's things, particularly around his dresser. If he'd been drinking in here the night before, he must have gotten it from somewhere. "I haven't had a drink in weeks and I still feel like going on a bloody rampage. You are obviously still in some kind of shock or denial over Stefan. Therefore, _we_ are having a drink."

Katherine simply stared at Elena in shock as the younger girl continued to go through Damon's things.

"And," Elena added, turning toward Katherine, "don't call Damon 'Mr. Salvatore'. It's weird." She shuddered a little, thinking of Giuseppe.

"Where exactly do you suggest we go to drink, if you do find his bourbon? Our own rooms are out—Emily doesn't approve of strong drink and might be inclined to give us the headaches humans wake up with the next day if she walks in on the pair of us halfway through a bottle."

"The attic," said Elena. "I explored it while you were entertaining Stefan one day." She paused, having discovered the drawer containing Damon's underthings. Shaking off her embarrassment, she started digging through it. "Ha!" she cried triumphantly a second later as she pulled out two bottles. "_Wow, _he really has a huge stash in here."

"I suppose I could use a drink," Katherine said in amusement. "What Damon say if he knew you stole his—"

"Screw what he says. Come on," Elena said, handing one of the bottles to Katherine.

"My, my," Katherine said. "I should let you nearly kill stray travelers more often. You're actually _fun _right now."

Elena turned to glare at her on the way to the attic. "Please, don't. I don't want to think about it."

As soon as they were in the attic, Elena kicked her shoes off and sat down. Not caring about all the time Emily had spent on her hair that morning, she reached up and began removing pins until the whole thing unraveled and came tumbling down around her shoulders, bringing instant relief to her aching scalp. "I wish the dress would still fit without the corset under it," she grumbled.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "It wouldn't kill you to sleep in it, you know," she said, sitting down gracefully beside Elena. "You'd get used to it much more quickly that way."

"There is no way I am ever going to sleep in a corset," said Elena flatly.

"At least our waists are naturally fairly small, and we don't have to subject ourselves to the pain some women go through. About twenty years ago, I knew a girl whose ribs were broken because her mother was disgusted with her waist."

Elena winced. "Well, when you put it that way." She eyed Katherine with a raised eyebrow. "Still, I don't know how your can stand lacing yours so tight."

"I've been doing this a long time, Elena. It's natural that my figure is a bit different than yours."

Elena sighed and adjusted her dress. "I didn't think knitting could be so dangerous." With that, she opened the stolen bourbon bottle from Damon's room and took a large drink. It burned as it went down, but it was a smooth kind of burn, and she didn't gag.

Katherine let out a small laugh and opened her bottle as well. "Your scarf was coming along well before we had to go, at least. And you didn't actually attack Mrs. Forbes."

"Only thanks to you," said Elena, taking another swig. "And then I almost killed the guy back there on the road."

Katherine waved her hand dismissively. "There's no use worrying over the almosts and might-have-beens. You'll drive yourself mad that way. You _didn't_ kill him, and _that's_ what matters. And anyway, it isn't what I'm interested in discussing." She pointed the finger of the hand holding her bottle at Elena. "You disappeared with Damon awfully quickly last night."

"Well, yeah!" Elena huffed. "I couldn't just leave him in there after what George said. Didn't that bother you at all? He made a fool of him in front of the whole town!"

Katherine sighed and took a drink. "That's what society is, Elena. And why did I need to be bothered by it? You were there to comfort Damon—you hardly needed my help for _that_."

"And it left you free to spend more time with Stefan," said Elena, bringing the bottle to her lips again.

Katherine was quiet for a moment. "You really are sure you aren't changing anything?"

Elena smiled at her. Perhaps it was the alcohol, but she felt more confident than she usually did when talking to Katherine, and a little less concerned about mentioning the present. "A few months ago in my time, you threatened to kill me and everyone I cared about if Stefan and I didn't break up—uh, stop courting. Would you really be able to get that jealous a century and a half later if you hadn't fallen in love with him?"

"I wasn't expecting it," Katherine admitted. Where the alcohol was making Elena bolder, it seemed to be making Katherine less determined to show no signs of weakness, because Elena couldn't remember her ever sounding so vulnerable. "He sneaked up on me."

"The Salvatore boys…they kind of do that," said Elena fondly. "I know Damon did that to me."

"I must admit, I'm glad it's a forgone conclusion that I'm going to turn them," Katherine said. "I hadn't decided for sure when you arrived."

At that point, Elena realized that they'd both emptied their bottles. "I'll be right back," she said, and she stood and flashed out of the attic. Five seconds later, she returned with two more bottles from Damon's drawer, resumed her seat, and passed a bottle to Katherine.

Katherine studied Elena for a moment after accepting the bottle. "Hmm. I was skeptical at first," she said while Elena drank a few mouthfuls from her new bottle, "but I think you might just have some Petrova fire in you after all."

"That's so nice of you to say!" Elena gushed. Yeah, she was definitely feeling the effects now. "I think we should have a toast."

"A toast to what?" said Katherine.

"To the Petrovas!" said Elena, sticking out her bottle.

Katherine beamed. "The Petrovas!" she said with gusto, clinking her bottle against Elena's. They both giggled and took a drink.

It felt good to actually be able to be so relaxed around Katherine, Elena realized. "You know," she said after taking another long drink. "It's amazing the kinds of traits that get passed down through families."

"Like what?" said Katherine.

"Well, both here and in 2010, you've got control freak Forbes women who have to be involved in all of the town's social events, Lockwood mayors who throw Founder's parties at their mansions." She grimaced. "Oh, wow. Okay, I think I know how much alcohol it takes to get a vampire drunk now."

Katherine snorted into her bottle in a most unladylike fashion. "I don't believe I've had this much to drink in a very long time."

"Damon has excellent taste," said Elena with a stout nod.

"I believe I overheard him telling Stefan not to touch his bourbon because a it was a graduation gift from a friend from university," said Katherine.

Elena smiled. "Really? I love learning so much about Stefan and Damon. They never really open up to me too much about their past. It took them a while to even tell me about you—and that wasn't helpful, I can tell you—but I still don't think I heard the whole story!"

Katherine burst into laughter. "Do you want to know what the best thing is about pretending you're my sister?"

"What?" said Elena.

"That you told them I'm five minutes older!"

It took a minute for Elena's inebriated mind to realize what Katherine said, but then she immediately burst out laughing too. Once she stopped (at least a full minute later), she scowled and adjusted her skirts. "I hate hoop skirts." She sighed dreamily. "God, why does Damon have to be so hot?"

"Your speech is so strange," Katherine laughed. "And you complain far too much."

"You would complain too if you were used to wearing jeans."

Katherine made a face. "Do you mean those peculiar trousers you were wearing when Emily and I first saw you? The ones everyone at your school was wearing in your dream? They were hideous! So unfeminine."

"Whatever," said Elena, rolling her eyes. "The 2010 you doesn't have a problem with them."

* * *

"I'm starving," Damon groaned as he and Stefan arrived back home after a very exhausting day, their lunch pails long since emptied. They walked inside the house, and Damon staggered over to the staircase to lean heavily on the banister for a moment.

"I wonder if Katherine and Elena have eaten yet," said Stefan. "Are you going to talk with Elena?"

"I'd like to," said Damon. "Perhaps after we eat—"

A peal of identical giggles made them both look up at the top of the staircase, but those responsible weren't in sight. Some of his exhaustion forgotten, Damon deposited his lunch pail at the bottom of the stairs and hurried up them. When he turned into the hallway at the top, he saw Elena and Katherine standing next to Katherine's bedroom door, their arms around each other's shoulders, both of them leaned against each other as they giggled again.

"Oh my, I did drink far too much," Elena laughed into her sister's hair, "my legs aren't working right."

"Yes, and you, dear sister, are a horrible influence on me," said Katherine, which set them off on yet another round of giggles.

Damon stared at the pair of them in complete bewilderment. They were _drunk_? Just then, Stefan came skidding to a halt next to Damon.

"Good evening, ladies," said Damon, raising his eyebrows.

"Damon!" cried Elena, whirling around to face him, her hands flying to her hair, which hung in loose curls around her shoulders.

Katherine giggled even harder. "Good evening, boys!" she sang. Then, in a very audible whisper to Elena, in regards to her hair, she said, "It's beyond help, you know. There's no point fussing with it."

Elena turned a pouting glare at her sister, and Damon glanced at Stefan, who was gaping at them and looking mortified. It was too much. Damon burst out laughing himself, drawing all three pairs of eyes onto him. "Well, it appears that Stefan and I have missed some kind of celebration," he said when it had subsided into light chuckling.

"Pfft," said Elena. "You weren't invited. It was girls only."

Damon waved a hand in front of Stefan's face—he'd gone back to staring at Elena and Katherine. "Are you still in there, little brother?" But he didn't wait for Stefan to react, because he'd just realized something. "Wait, did you two get into my bourbon?"

Elena's already flushed cheeks reddened still further, which was answer enough. Damon opened his mouth to say something indignant, but it was all so comical that he only ended up laughing again.

"It's such a scandal!" said Katherine. "My sister burst into your room as soon as we got home from knitting and stole it! By then, I really had no choice but to help her drink it." They both giggled yet again, and Katherine hiccupped.

"Uh, Katherine, perhaps you should go to bed," said Stefan, coming to life at last and stepping up to gently pull Katherine away from Elena.

Katherine pouted. "But Elena and I have been having such fun!" she protested.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Stefan on this matter," said Damon with a sigh, moving forward too. It was lucky he had, because Elena chose that moment to stumble. Damon managed to steady her before she fell. "Yes, you both have definitely had too much."

Elena took a step in the direction of her room and immediately started to go down again. "Oops!"

Damon caught her, keeping his arm around her this time. Her hair had flown into her eyes, and he brushed it away. Katherine's door closed behind her and Stefan then, muffling the sounds of Stefan's yelp of surprise and another of Katherine's giggles.

"What am I going to do with you?" Damon asked Elena in mock exasperation. "First you sneak into my bed at night and then you steal my bourbon."

"Well, I could think of a few things—"

Elena squealed as Damon abruptly swept her up into his arms and carried her to her bedroom door. "You're drunk, Elena," he said. "I'm not letting you finish that sentence."

Elena huffed, but then buried her face into his neck. "Mmm. Do you have any idea how amazing you smell?"

Damon grinned smugly as he opened her door, but she would not distract him from his goal. He carried her inside and laid her tenderly on her bed.

When he made to turn and leave, she caught his hand. "Stay?" she asked, her eyes wide and pleading.

Damon used his other hand to carefully disengage hers from his wrist, then reached up and smoothed her hair back. "Not tonight, Elena. If you and I are going to share a bed again, it will be when we're both sober. Right now, I'm going to find Emily so she can get you into your proper nightclothes, and then you're going to go to sleep."

Elena pouted again. "At least kiss me goodnight?"

Damon knew he should probably say no to even that much, and he was about to, but she suddenly pulled him down with surprising strength until their lips met. She tasted like bourbon. Damon returned the kiss, but chastely, even though Elena seemed to want to deepen it. As much as he wanted to, he wouldn't. When she was herself again, she wouldn't thank him for anything that he let happen between them tonight. He pulled away and stepped back so that he was out of her reach.

"I'll send Emily in," he said before exiting her room and closing the door behind him.

* * *

BlackDove: I wrote the last two scenes with a really crappy cold from 3 AM-6AM. I wanted to do nothing but sleep, but I also wanted to make sure you would get the new chapter without it having to wait a week before I get too tired/not in the mood to write. Please, please be dears and leave a review? Speak up if you haven't yet! I get that you wanted to add it to your favorites/have alerts to when we update, but I have a bachelor's degree in creative writing and Taaroko is about to graduate with hers. Let us _know _what you think!

Taaroko: Back from my ski trip—which sadly involved no skiing, only some poorly timed illness for me and my dad (the only two who actually ski) and a _Downton Abbey_ marathon with my mom while my brothers snowboarded—now and confident that I kicked serious butt on the GRE (still waiting to get the score for the essay portion, though). About the chapter, I got a lot of the names from the knitting group from a screencap of the Founder's Ball registry, so they're canon 1864 Mystic Falls ladies. That was fun. BlackDove and I felt it was high time for some more vampirism-related tension. Bet nobody realized that falling asleep with Damon meant Elena missed a night of hunting. Bwahaha.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

It had been a week since the Founder's Ball. Damon had been letting other things get in the way, but today he was finally going to ask Elena if he could court her. It was strange—as much as he'd loved Katherine, a proper courtship wasn't something he'd ever considered pursuing with her. On the other hand, he'd barely known Elena a month—most of which he'd spent sulking over Katherine constantly preferring Stefan's company to his—and he already couldn't imagine going forward any other way.

"Would you like me to wrap that up for you, Mr. Salvatore?" said John Anderson, a boy of about Stefan's age who was the clerk of Mystic Falls' small bookshop.

"Yes, thank you, John," said Damon. He watched as the handsome dark leather disappeared beneath the thick brown wrapping paper. After tying the package off with string, John passed it over the counter.

"It'll be $3."

Damon took the package and handed over three dollar bills.

* * *

"There," said Elena, holding up her finished product with no small amount of pride. "How did I do?"

Katherine looked up from her own knitting to stare appraisingly at Elena's scarf. "Well, it won't win any awards, but it'll do for your first piece," she said, her eyes back on the cap she was knitting as part of a matching set that would be Emily's son's birthday present the following week.

"Katherine," said Elena in aggravation. "I've been working on it all week! You're supposed to say 'It's perfect, Elena! Damon will love it!'"

"Why?" said Katherine. "It wasn't even your idea to give it to Damon, it was mine."

"It was still a good idea, even if you only said it to embarrass me in front of everyone."

"Oh, come on. If you want to keep a low profile in Mystic Falls after those attacks, then it's best to give the other ladies something harmless to speculate about. As long as they're preoccupied with a love story, they won't feel the need to make you more interesting by suggesting you might be the monster Mrs. Lockwood believes is out there."

Why did Katherine have to have such reasonable justifications for teasing her? "I'm going to go for a walk," she said, bundling up her scarf and leaving the room before Katherine could offer to join her.

Despite the teasing, she felt like skipping once she was outside. Right now, it seemed like everything was perfect. She missed her life in the present, of course, but that would all be waiting for her when she got back—as well as all the drama that went with it. Here, on the other hand, it was beginning to be wonderfully simple.

She hadn't been walking beside the road leading into town for long when a rider came into view. Her face split in a wide smile and her heartbeat immediately sped up. Damon. An idea striking her, she quickly hid the scarf behind her back and waited for him to approach. Since he didn't have vampire eyesight, it took him a few seconds longer to recognize her. When he did, his whole face lit up and he sat up a little straighter on his horse and nudged him into a trot.

"I was just coming to find you," he said when he pulled up level with her.

"Were you?" she asked. He dismounted, giving her the opportunity to check him out, which she didn't waste.

"Indeed I was," he said, gathering the reins in one hand and leading the horse to the nearest tree. Once he had tied the ends around a branch, he turned and strode up to her, taking off his black hat. She held out the hand that wasn't hiding the scarf for him to kiss, which he did.

"I have something for you," he said when he released her hand. He was smirking, but there seemed to be something nervous about it. "Two things, actually, one of which is a question."

"What a coincidence," said Elena, her smile widening, "because I have two things for you as well."

His look of stunned delight made her laugh, but he quickly turned it into a smirk. "And what would they be?"

With a flourish, she whipped out the scarf, and, holding onto both ends, threw it over his head and used it to pull him into a kiss. There was a soft thump of his hat falling into the grass at their feet as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. She definitely didn't regret carrying out her plan to pull the same scarf trick present-day Damon had done to her.

"Well," said Damon hoarsely when they broke apart, his hands still on her waist, "I'm much more confident about how you'll answer my question now." He looked down at the navy, maroon, and gray striped scarf. "Did you knit this?"

"I finished it less than an hour ago," she admitted, feeling rather shy all of a sudden as she recalled Katherine's reaction to the scarf. She glanced up at his face. "Do you like it?"

"I love it," he said. "And now," he caught her hands and spun her around. "It's my turn. Wait here."

Elena pursed her lips and glared in a feeble attempt to hide how much his charm was working on her. He smirked again and walked back over to his horse, removed a rectangular package from the saddlebag, and returned to her side, then swept into a bow as he presented it to her.

"Thank you," she said as she took it.

"Open it," he urged her.

She pulled the string and peeled back the brown paper to reveal the most beautiful journal she'd ever seen. It was bound in rich leather, embossed with Celtic knot designs, and held shut by a silver clasp. "Damon," she said. She felt tears welling up.

"I remembered what you said about losing your old journal," he said, "so I looked at what the bookshop in town had to offer."

"It's wonderful," said Elena, running her fingers over the designs. She was going to have to find some way to make sure this lasted untouched until 2010. She held it to her chest. "What was your question?"

He bent down to retrieve the hat he'd dropped and fidgeted with the brim. "I, uh, I was hoping you'd be agreeable if—that is, would you like to—I want to court you."

Elena's mouth fell slightly open. She stared at him with wide eyes.

"I suppose that wasn't a question," he said, his cheeks reddening.

"Yes," she said.

"What?"

"Yes, Damon, I would be very agreeable if you wanted to court me."

It took a moment for her words to sink in, and then his anxiety subsided into a soft, contented smile. He reached out and took one of her hands in his. "I'll have to tell Father this afternoon."

Elena gripped his hand tightly. "We can tell him together, can't we?" She didn't like the idea of Damon and Giuseppe potentially having another shouting match, but Giuseppe was always on his best behavior in front of one or both of the Pierce sisters.

"I don't think—"

"Please, Damon? I want to be there when you tell him. He _is_ Katherine's and my guardian as long as we're staying in your home."

He looked reluctant, but nodded. "Very well."

They were walking back to the Salvatore mansion arm in arm when Elena's happiness drained away. Damon might know how much she loved to write and how much she missed her family, but there was so much she hadn't told him. She couldn't tell him about where she'd really come from, or Emily would take away all of his memories of her anyway. But she at least owed him the truth about what she was. Her stomach writhed with dread. He liked her enough to court her now, but what if he hated her when he found out? What if he was terrified of her? Katherine had never needed to compel him about any of it, but he might not react the same with her.

* * *

Damon rapped the knuckles of the hand not intertwined with Elena's against the door of Giuseppe's study. "Father?"

"What is it?" came the gruff reply.

Damon looked down at Elena, and she recognized that he was offering her one last chance to change her mind about going in there with him, but she only shook her head and squeezed his hand. "Miss Elena and I would like a word, if you aren't too busy."

"Very well. Come in."

Elena squeezed Damon's hand again, then released it and took a step to the side so they would be a respectable distance apart when Giuseppe saw them. Damon pushed the door open and allowed her to enter the study ahead of him, then came the rest of the way inside and closed the door behind them. Giuseppe stood when they entered, walked around his desk, and went to pour himself a drink from the bar. "What's this about?" he said once he had a glass of brandy in his hand.

"Father, Miss Elena has granted me permission to court her," said Damon. He was so stiff that it was all Elena could do to stop herself from reaching for his hand again.

"Has she now," said Giuseppe. He spoke softly, but with such a note of cold skepticism that Damon flinched slightly and Elena's anger began to stir like a lion rousing from a deep sleep.

"Yes," she said. "I have."

Giuseppe raised his eyebrows. "A girl as young and pretty as you surely isn't willing to settle. I hope nothing has happened to make you feel that you have no choice."

The insinuation was clear, and it set Elena's blood boiling. Did he really believe Damon would have forced himself on her in order to get her to agree to a courtship out of fear for her reputation? First the sire bond and now this. Why was it so hard for people to believe that she just wanted to be with Damon of her own free will? "Of course not," she said.

"Miss Elena and I are very fond of each other," said Damon through clenched teeth. "Nothing improper has occurred."

"A month ago, you were 'very fond' of Miss Pierce. You never asked to court her."

"And I'm not asking to court Miss Elena. I'm four-and-twenty, Father. I don't need your permission. I was merely informing you as a courtesy."

Giuseppe glared at Damon, a muscle twitching in his jaw. "Would you excuse us, Miss Elena?"

Elena had no intention of leaving the room, but Damon caught her eye and nodded. She stepped outside, but remained in the hall to listen.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you'd go for Miss Elena once Miss Pierce set her sights higher," Giuseppe said the second the door closed behind Elena. She could hear the sneer in his tone. "All the other girls in town have fathers, uncles, or brothers living, and they never would have handed them over to such a shameless, spineless coward."

"Are you finished now," said Damon, "or is this going to take a while?"

"You're a deserter, Damon," said Giuseppe, his voice rising, "you aren't fit to be courting anyone. Who's going to do business with you? Who's going to employ you? You'll never be able to provide a comfortable life for that girl, so if you really were fond of her, you wouldn't want her to be tied down to someone like you."

Damon didn't reply. A second later, he came bursting out of the study. His expression was livid, and he didn't even seem to see Elena as he stormed down the hall towards the rear of the house. Giuseppe appeared in the doorway after a moment, staring in the direction Damon had gone with his fists clenched.

"How can you say such awful things to him?" Elena demanded. "You're the only parent he has left!" Without giving Giuseppe a chance to respond, she picked up her skirts and hurried after Damon.

* * *

"Damon!" Elena called as soon as she was out the back door. As quickly as she had moved to follow him, he was already nearly beyond the back garden by the time she was outside, and he didn't turn around at the sound of her voice. "Damon, wait!" He was hard to keep up with when he didn't want anyone to follow him, even as a human.

He stormed past the statue Katherine and Stefan often liked to play tag around and disappeared into the woods. Elena cursed the dress she was wearing. Damn hoop skirt. It kept trying to drag on the ground, and even though she was getting better at going vamp-speed in these dresses, she couldn't exactly do that when Damon didn't know she was a vampire. _Yet_. For the moment, Elena pushed the worries associated with that thought aside. There would be a time for him to learn what she was. She just had to figure out how to tell him.

When she finally caught up to Damon, he was bracing himself against a tree. She barely had a second to register that it was the same tree he had kissed her against that first day when he'd thought she was Katherine before he suddenly punched the rough bark in temper.

"Damon," she said, moving closer automatically and reaching out a hand to steady him like she had done so often in 2010. But then she saw the torn skin of his knuckles and smelled the blood seeping out. It was like the knitting group all over again, but this time there was no Katherine to bail her out. She felt the veins thicken under her eyes as her vision went red, and that aching pressure of her canines lengthening into fangs. His blood was right there for the taking. She remembered drinking from him in the restroom at the Grill, how good his blood had tasted and how erotic it had been even though she ultimately hadn't been able to keep it down. Would it be different now, when he was human? She was dying to find out. Just one taste wouldn't hurt him. Maybe more than that.

"_No!_" she whispered, turning away and hiding her face in her hands just as he was turning to look at her. She loved him! She couldn't do this to him. And even if she did manage to stop, she'd have to compel him again, because this couldn't possibly be the way for him to find out the truth and not hate her for it.

"Elena?" he said, and she heard him move closer.

She didn't respond, desperately trying to focus on breathing slowly and evenly and forcing her vampire features to recede, but it wasn't working.

"If…if you've changed your mind about wanting me to court you, I'll understand."

Just like that, the bloodlust was gone—completely replaced by incredulous anger. She rounded on him, her face entirely human again, her hands on her hips. "You don't honestly believe I'd let _him_ influence my opinion of you, do you?"

"He's right, though!" Damon burst out. "You shouldn't have to settle."

"Being with you is _not_ settling," she said firmly. "It's what I want."

"But not what you deserve," he said bitterly. "Maybe Father was right about why Katherine prefers Stefan now too."

"Excuse me?" said Elena. "I don't believe Katherine has anything to do with this. Unless you think _you_ might be the one who's settling."

"No!" said Damon, alarmed. "No, of course not."

Elena stared up at him, feeling frustratingly close to the verge of tears again. His expression softened as he looked at her, and one of his hands came up to stroke her cheek. "It's strange," he muttered. "I deserted for Katherine, but now…"

Her breath caught in her throat. Once again, she was completely captivated by his eyes. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. It was much slower and sweeter than their kiss when she'd used the scarf to pull him to her. When they broke apart, she rested her forehead against his. "She wasn't the only reason, was she?"

"No," Damon said, pulling away completely and leaning against the tree.

"You can talk to me about it," Elena said. "No matter what it is."

He sighed, but it was still nearly a minute before he spoke. "I had a friend in the war…David Moore. He was my age, but he'd left behind a wife and a daughter when he enlisted. For plenty of the men, that would have been enough of an excuse to leave, but not David. He was going to stick it out to the very end." Damon swallowed. "He was standing right next to me when a bullet struck him right between the eyes."

Elena gasped. "I'm so sorry."

Damon took a shuddering breath. "That wasn't the worst of it. Virginia is a border state. There are plenty of men who have family fighting on the Union side. I've watched cousins fighting cousins. Brothers fighting brothers. And for what? What cause could possibly be worth that? Sometimes, I'd see Stefan's face whenever the Union soldiers charged us. I couldn't do it anymore."

Elena pulled him into a hug. "It's okay," she said, trying not to think about how the history of her time dictated that Damon would soon want nothing more than to make Stefan suffer. "You don't have to."

"Are you sure you don't want me to?" he said.

Elena pulled back so that she could look at him. "Want you to what?"

"Return to war," he said.

"What?! No! Why would you say that?"

He chuckled and played with the stray curl hanging by her cheek. "You make me want to be the sort of man who does his duty to God and country."

"You don't have to go to war to impress me, Damon. Particularly not a war you don't even believe in. I like you much better safely by my side. I…I couldn't bear it if something happened to you." The tears that had been threatening for various reasons lately finally escaped. She buried her face in his chest and wrapped her arms around her waist. For all Emily had said about her not being able to change the past, she feared that she might have changed Damon in ways that could get him killed for good. "Please don't go back. If you hadn't deserted, we wouldn't have met. Stay, and we can face the town and your father's scorn together."

He hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. "I'm not going anywhere, Elena," he finally said.

Elena sniffed. "Good. I wouldn't let you." She wiped away some of her tears. "You'd have to fight me over it, and you wouldn't win."

Damon chuckled. "You're probably right about that."

Elena realized that she could still smell the blood on his hand when they broke apart. She grimaced. "You shouldn't have hit that tree," she said.

"It's nothing," said Damon dismissively.

"It isn't nothing!" Before he could protest, she bent down and tore a strip of cloth from the hem of one of her petticoats, then caught his hand and began to wrap it up. The renewed stirrings of bloodlust faded once the wound was completely covered. "There."

* * *

They walked out of the forest hand-in-hand a few minutes later. Damon knew he had made the right decision in asking to court Elena. He remembered when he had first enlisted at the end of May. Katherine had shed no tears at the idea of him going to battle. She had laughed and told him what a handsome soldier he made. When he compared that to Elena's reaction, he had to wonder if Katherine had ever cared about him at all.

"Stefan, I bet you can't catch me!" came a familiar giggle.

Damon and Elena looked at each other. She rolled her eyes at the antics of their respective siblings, and he grinned. In the past few days, Stefan and Katherine had gotten much closer than they had been. Certainly closer than a week ago, if the moans Damon had heard coming from Stefan's room the other night were any indication. He'd been surprised to find that overhearing them had barely hurt at all. He was moving on for good, and with Elena by his side, he was happier than he'd been in a long time.

"I feel a bit tired, Katherine," Stefan said. Damon frowned at his brother as he and Elena approached. It was the middle of the day; Stefan shouldn't be tired. His skin was pale and there were dark shadows under his eyes. He was also for some reason still wearing his collar and necktie even though he usually dispensed with them when playing with Katherine in the garden. "You'd better watch yourself, I'll still catch you."

"Damon, Elena!" Katherine squealed in delight. "Would you like to play tag with us?" She turned toward Stefan. "There, two more targets for you. You're not allowed to quit until you've caught one of us."

Damon grinned and started forward, but Elena stayed where she was, her hand no longer in his. "Actually, Katherine, could I have a word with you?" she said. There was something strange about her tone. Damon looked around at her and was surprised to see that her eyes flashed with anger.

"If you insist," said Katherine carelessly.

"I do," said Elena, striding forward and catching Katherine by the arm and practically dragging her out of earshot of Damon and Stefan.

"What on earth is that about?" said Damon, mystified.

"No idea," said Stefan. The exhaustion in his voice brought Damon's attention back to him.

"Are you ill, brother?" he said.

"No," said Stefan, waving a hand. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Damon scoffed, reaching out to lay his hand on Stefan's shoulder.

"I'm _fine_, Damon," said Stefan, jerking away sharply.

The movement briefly bared an inch or two of Stefan's neck, and Damon caught a brief glimpse of a small, brilliantly red wound there. "What the hell happened to your neck?"

"Nothing!" said Stefan angrily. "Leave it alone."

* * *

Taaroko: Sorry for the delay, you guys. We would have had it up sooner, but school just started for me and I've been extra busy filling out my grad school applications. Hopefully once I'm done with all of those, we'll be able to update a little faster. Anyway, I really love this chapter. I've been looking forward to Damon and Elena's discussion about why he deserted, and the scene when he asks to court her is just so _cute_. I hope you all enjoyed it. By the way, you should definitely go check out "The Light that Fades" by LottieFarrell. It's not very far along yet, but it's an excellent "Elena met Damon first" fic with an awesome twist to it, and it has far fewer reviews than it deserves.

Black_Dove: I'm sorry for the delay, too. I wanted to have this up sooner, but I've been working 40 hours again and had a date earlier. I'm stuffed from chicken and shrimp fajitas now and I'm a bitttt tipsy from those strawberry margaritas I had with my dinner. I love the scene in this chapter after Damon tells her why he came back, too. I'd say more but that tequila is really hitting me. XD

I want to give a shout out to someone who is writing an awesome fic: Go read The Interim by Reilly Black. It's an awesome story, it's updated frequently. It deals mostly with the sire bond.

Be sure to leave a review! :)


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Elena couldn't help it. She was furious, and she was digging her fingers into Katherine's arm as she dragged her around the corner of the house.

"What's got you in such a tizzy?" Katherine asked irritably once Elena had let go of her and turned to face her.

"Really, Katherine?" said Elena. "Stefan looked like he could pass out, he's so pale, and you're gonna pretend that's not because of you?"

"He'll be fine," Katherine said. She smirked. "He wasn't complaining about it last night."

"Yeah, he did seem _awfully _compliant with you," said Elena coldly.

She had known this was coming. Maybe part of her had hoped that Katherine's more exclusive interest in Stefan would result in her treating him better than a human juice box, but she'd been too realistic to expect that. What she definitely hadn't expected was how _angry _it would make her when it happened. It was as if she and Katherine had stepped into the roles of Stefan and Damon when they had first returned to Mystic Falls in 2009, and human Stefan was now in the role of Caroline, the hapless human victim who picked the wrong mysterious stranger to have a crush on.

"If you have something to say, then say it," Katherine said, her eyes narrowing.

"I know you're compelling him!" Elena snarled. "It's obvious."

"I don't know why it should be any of your concern," said Katherine. She examined her fingernails with an air of indifference as she spoke, but this was somehow more threatening than if she'd matched Elena's anger. "I've been accommodating enough to let you carry out your little love story with Damon without interfering, so I'd appreciate it if you kept your nose out of what I may or may not be doing with Stefan."

"This isn't just about me not liking it," Elena said. "Which I don't. He's in love with you and you're feeding off him—"

"I'm a vampire, Elena. Love and blood go together. Or haven't you learned that yet?"

Elena felt herself going red. "That's not the point," she said.

"Isn't it?" Katherine laughed. "Besides, all he needs is a few helpings of red meat at dinner tonight, and he'll be back to normal in no time."

"Drinking his blood would be fine if he was offering it freely, fully aware of what was going on, but you're just taking it and compelling him! He's not choosing this. It's part of what makes you lose him in the future. He's going to think everything he feels for you is a lie—something you forced on him."

"What?" said Katherine, looking at Elena in disbelief. "But he was terrified of me. What else was I supposed to do?"

Could vampires get headaches? The painful twinge behind Elena's eyes made her wonder if it were possible. "I don't know, talk to him? Let him be afraid of you for a while until he gets past it? You can't just take the easy way out if you really care about him."

"Of course I care about him!" Katherine hissed. "I care about him a great deal. It was why I let him know what I am." She arched an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, when are you planning to tell Damon?"

Elena froze. Katherine had just voiced exactly what she had been worrying about all day.

Katherine obviously noticed the hesitation. Her lips curled into a sneer. "Perhaps you should wait until after you've told Damon and won him over without using compulsion before you judge my actions with Stefan."

Elena opened and closed her mouth soundlessly for a few seconds before finding her voice again. "I'm not being judgmental! What you're doing to Stefan is legitimately, objectively, _not okay_. I might not be in love with him anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to keep quiet when I know you're treating him like this. And I'd have thought you'd be open to suggestions for how to avoid destroying your relationship with him."

"I'll _consider_ handling things with Stefan differently after you've told Damon, and not before," said Katherine haughtily. "If you think you know how it's really done, then show me."

"You should just go _hunt _next time you're hungry," said Elena, grinding the words out between her teeth. "I can't tell Damon now. He just asked if he could court me, and I don't want to ruin it."

Katherine's eyes lit up with interest, but Annie and Emily appeared around the side of the house just then, both laden with overflowing laundry baskets. "Annie! Don't argue with me. You take those sheets right back inside and wash them the right way!"

Annie made a noise of exasperation and turned around, muttering under her breath as she went. Elena distinctly heard her say, "That Emily Bennett! Thinks she can boss me like she's my mama, and this ain't even her home!"

Emily walked briskly over to Katherine and Elena. "You two have an admirer," she said quietly, jerking her head back in the direction Annie had just gone. They looked around and saw that Damon was dawdling not far beyond the corner of the house. Katherine raised an eyebrow while Elena felt herself go red again. Had he overheard them?

Without warning, Katherine's face split in a wide smile and she dashed past Elena over to Damon. "Elena just told me your news!" she said in delight. "I'm so happy for the two of you."

Damon looked surprised at first, but then relaxed and smiled. "Thank you," he said. He looked at Elena, his gaze tender. "We're happy too."

Elena's worry that he'd heard vanished, and she returned his smile.

* * *

Damon tried to put Elena and Katherine's argument out of his mind. Whatever they'd been fighting about, it was none of his business, and he certainly knew from experience that it was perfectly normal for even the closest of siblings to have rough patches. Still, he couldn't shake the suspicion that their argument had had something to do with Stefan's odd behavior and that mark on his neck. None of it made any sense at all, but even so, his suspicion continued to increase over the next few days. Elena had suddenly become strangely protective of Stefan whenever Katherine was around, always watching her sister closely and shooting covert concerned glances Stefan's way whenever she thought no one was looking.

These concerns occupied only a small portion of Damon's thoughts, however. The vast majority were much more happily engaged with wooing the beautiful, sweet, and affectionate girl staying in the room next to his. His new favorite pastime was finding ways to catch Elena by surprise and to make her laugh, and he didn't think he would ever tire of looking into her eyes.

Elena was as eager a participant in their courtship as he was. One day, he would invite her to ride out to the waterfall with him, and the next, she arranged a picnic by the quarry. She also initiated at least half of their kisses, and Damon had never known anyone to give more frequent hugs than Elena. He was delighted that he appeared to be almost the sole recipient of them. She wanted to know everything about him; every time he thought she must be tiring of his stories, she would ask to hear more. Meanwhile, Stefan and Katherine seemed to have struck up some less formal kind of courtship, and all four of them were planning to attend the fall festival in town the following week.

A couple of days before the festival, something happened to implode Damon's growing sense of contentment. He hadn't been able to locate his favorite blue necktie while changing into his dinner clothes, and his search led him to the washroom downstairs. He finally found it, still unlaundered, in a pile of other clothes that had been brought down from his room, and he'd been about to leave to find a different tie to use when his eye was caught by something in one of the other baskets. It was a white handkerchief with the initials _EP_ sewn into the corner, and a substantial amount of its surface was smeared with reddish-brown stains that could only be blood.

Damon was almost entirely silent all through dinner, letting Stefan entertain both Pierce sisters with stories from his early childhood while he fretted over what he'd seen. Was Elena ill? She looked perfectly well, but perhaps she was putting on a brave face so as not to worry anyone. She was the only immediate family Katherine had left, after all, so maybe she didn't want her to know if something was wrong. There _had_ seemed to be something troubling her lately, though he had failed to coax it out of her so far, and now that he thought about it, she did sometimes appear to be in pain. Could it be this? And how bad was it? Surely…surely not life-threatening. He tried to keep eating, but his appetite had completely deserted him.

* * *

"Is the fall festival something they still do in Mystic Falls every year in your time?" Katherine asked as Emily secured the last few curls in place with hairpins.

"Yeah, but it's mostly just a bunch of activities for the little kids, like making handprint turkey paintings and hayrides and pumpkin carving," said Elena. "What kind of stuff do they do at a nineteenth century fall festival?"

"I haven't been to one in this town before," said Katherine, "but I imagine it's like all the others. A glorified market with a few games and some music and dancing, all of it with a heavy harvest theme. It shouldn't be completely pointless however; I intend to find Stefan a birthday present while I'm there."

Elena turned her head one way and then the other, examining her reflection in the mirror. "What do you think?" she asked.

"I think Damon has better taste in hats than you do in scarves," said Katherine, earning a scowl from Elena.

"You look very pretty, Elena," said Emily, shooting Katherine a stern look.

Damon and Stefan were waiting at the foot of the stairs when Elena and Katherine came down. It was chilly outside today, and Elena noticed with pleasure that Damon was wearing her scarf.

"Elena and I were just speculating on what Mystic Falls might have to offer by way of a fall festival," said Katherine as she looped an arm through Stefan's and Elena did the same with Damon. "Any chance we might get an early account of it from our gallant locals?"

"And spoil the surprise?" said Damon, smirking. "Not likely."

Elena grinned at him. "Don't listen to her. She'll enjoy it just as much as the rest of us."

When they arrived at the town square, it was to find the place draped with banners in autumn leaf colors and full of festival goers. Mystic Falls citizens of all ages were present, roving merrily from one attraction to the next. Elena thought it looked like a Renaissance Festival, except that everyone was dressed in the clothing of a single time period.

From where they had disembarked from the carriage, she could see barrels for apple bobbing, a giant swing that seated about a dozen, many different food stalls, what appeared to be a hay bale maze, and a large gazebo where several couples were doing what looked like a country line dance while a band of fiddlers played.

"Come on, Stefan," said Katherine eagerly, practically dragging him off into the crowd, leaving Damon and Elena alone.

"Care for a glass of the best hot cider in the state of Virginia?" a voice called, and they looked around at the nearest stall, where a plump woman was ladling up two glasses of the steaming liquid from a large vat. Barrels presumably containing more cider were stacked high behind the stall, with a sign hung over them listing the cider prices, and a boy sat beside the woman, washing used glasses in a large barrel of water.

"Yes, please," said Elena, looking at Damon.

Damon passed over a few pennies for the cider and handed Elena one of the glasses. "Just hand those to Jimmy when you've finished," said the woman.

The cider was delicious, though it probably would have tasted better if she were still human. It was hot, but not so hot that they couldn't drink it quickly, and they had soon drained their glasses. As they headed off to look at the other stalls, Elena spotted the apple bobbing barrels again. A grin spread over her face, and she started in that direction.

"You want to try apple bobbing?" said Damon, amused.

"Yeah," said Elena. "I was never any good at it when I was little, but I have a feeling I can pull it off now." Emily had put her hair into an elegant up-do today, so it was out of the way. "Would you be so good as to hold this for me?" she asked, removing her hat. Damon took it, still smirking, and Elena skipped over to the nearest unoccupied barrel, remembering all the times she'd tried and failed to do this as a kid.

There were about a dozen apples floating in the water. After selecting the one that looked the reddest and juiciest, Elena leaned over and carefully maneuvered so that the apple was trapped under her teeth. She knew if she tried to bite down, it would just slip under the surface and she'd end up with her face all wet. Instead, she focused on the sounds of all the heartbeats around her. Within seconds, her fangs descended, spearing the apple. She bit down a little, then stayed where she was for another few seconds until she could feel her face return to normal, then stood upright and spun to face Damon, who grinned and clapped.

"It's cheating to use fangs, you know," said a voice in her ear. She turned and saw Anna looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't see that written anywhere," said Elena, taking a bite out of her apple and smirking. Anna rolled her eyes and shook her head, and Elena turned to face Damon again.

* * *

Damon watched Elena carefully as they made their way around to everything the festival had to offer. She seemed lighthearted and full of life, dancing a few songs with him in the gazebo and cheering him on enthusiastically when he participated in the tug-of-war tournament. But he knew what he'd seen on that handkerchief, and he couldn't just let it go because she was putting on such a convincing show of health and happiness.

"Shall we do the maze next?" she said after they'd stopped at another food stall for slices of pumpkin pie.

"In a moment," he said. His worry must already have leaked into his voice, because she turned and looked at him with her brow furrowed in concern.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He shook his head and pulled her to a more secluded spot behind one of the stalls. "I'm sorry," he said, "but I can't bear it anymore. I need the truth." Her eyes widened in alarm. "I found one of your handkerchiefs in the laundry the other day. It was covered in bloodstains." He closed his eyes, steeling himself. "Are you dying?"

"I—what?" said Elena. Now she looked incredibly confused. "No, I'm not dying. I'm fine."

"You wouldn't be coughing up blood if you were fine, Elena," said Damon.

She opened her mouth, but it was a moment before she spoke. "It's not like that," she said at last, squeezing his hand reassuringly. "You know I didn't escape the fire quite as unscathed as Katherine. I inhaled a great deal of smoke, and it did some damage to my lungs, but I've been much better lately."

"Then you're absolutely sure—" But Elena cut off the end of his sentence by pulling him into a kiss.

"I'm _not_ dying, Damon," she repeated when she released him, looking around to make sure nobody had seen them. "It's going to take a lot more than that to finish me off." She blushed and lowered her gaze. "Especially when I have so much to live for," she mumbled.

Damon's heart soared. "Good," he said, stroking her cheek. "I don't know how I could bear it if I lost you."

She smiled softly at him. "So, how about that maze?"

"Think you can beat me to the end of it, do you?" he said, smirking as moved back into the crowd and headed towards the maze entrance.

Her smile became a grin, and her eyes danced. "Yes I do."

* * *

Making it to the end of the maze turned out to be a more difficult feat than Elena would have expected. Even with the afternoon sun clearly visible in the cloudless sky to remind her of which direction she was going, there were so many twists and forks that she knew she wasn't getting far. She passed several people along the way, as well as a few giggling children. After finding herself at yet another dead end, she turned a corner and nearly collided with Stefan.

"Elena!" he said. "My apologies."

"It was nothing," said Elena. "Katherine challenge you to a race?"

"Of course," he said with a rather self-deprecating grin. "And at this rate, I'm sure she's going to win, as usual."

"She _is_ very competitive, my sister," said Elena in mock sympathy. She looked more closely at Stefan. He looked perfectly content, and his skin wasn't nearly as pale as it had been the other day, but it definitely wasn't back to its usual shade yet. "I don't mean to pry, Stefan, but Katherine hasn't been…hurting you, has she?"

Stefan's eyes snapped to Elena's face before he hastily checked that nobody was nearby. "Of course she hasn't," he said. "I should be going."

He turned, obviously keen on putting some distance between them, but Elena wasn't giving up that easily. In the blink of an eye, she was in front of him again. He staggered back, eyes wide, and she could smell his fear. She took a moment to appreciate the ironic role reversal. "Please, Stefan," she said, reaching out and putting a hand on his arm and looking imploringly into his eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you, I swear. Just tell me the truth."

He swallowed, fear still strong in his scent. "I love Katherine. I'm not afraid of her." The first statement rang as true as on the night he'd first confessed his love, but his eyes went slightly glassy on the second, and Elena ground her teeth in frustration. Katherine still hadn't removed the compulsion. Something seemed to occur to Stefan, and his brow furrowed. "If you're like her, is Damon safe with you?"

"Damon will always be safe with me," said Elena, letting go of Stefan's arm. "I love him." Stefan watched her for a moment. If only present-day Stefan would be able to hear the same declaration without the slightest trace of pain or betrayal in his eyes too, she thought wistfully. She was going to have to tell him when she got back, and she really wasn't looking forward to it.

"Does he know?" he asked.

"No," said Elena. "Please don't tell him. I'm going to, I just don't know how to do it yet."

Stefan took a few seconds to deliberate. "As long as nothing happens to him, your secret is safe with me."

Elena smiled. She felt a rush of affection for Stefan and had to suppress a sudden urge to pull him into a hug, knowing that it would only freak him out, given the circumstances. "It's wonderful how much you two care about each other," she said. More than anything, she wished they could be like that in 2010.

"He's my brother," said Stefan simply.

She nodded. "I hope you and I can still be friends, even now that you know the truth."

"Perhaps," he said, his expression unreadable. "But for now, I think we should both move along before they send a search party in after us."

* * *

Just when Damon was sure he must be near the end of the maze, he turned a corner and found himself face-to-face with Katherine. No one else was in sight. "Katherine," he said.

"Damon," she replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I've been hoping for an opportunity to talk to you alone."

"Just to talk?" said Katherine with a smirk. "My, my, Elena really has gotten to you, hasn't she?"

Damon's jaw tightened. "Whatever there was between us is over, and we both know it. I've moved on—"

"Yes, to my identical twin sister," Katherine cut across him derisively. "Pure coincidence, I'm sure."

"—And you obviously never cared about me the way I cared about you," Damon continued doggedly. He wasn't going to make it that easy for her to control this conversation.

"True," said Katherine without the slightest sign of remorse or concern. She almost sounded bored. It was incredible that someone capable of such coldness could be so closely related to Elena.

"You knew how I felt, and you toyed with me. Why?"

"Does there really have to be a reason? It was fun to have such a handsome young man chasing after me, to let him think he'd caught me, never suspecting that he was the prey all along."

"Is that what you're doing with my brother now?" he demanded. His determination to protect Stefan was likely the only thing keeping him from being violently sick at the revelation of just how little he'd meant to her. "He loves you. Are you merely letting him think he's caught you?"

"He has," said Katherine softly, a faraway look in her eyes.

This caught Damon by surprise. For once, there was no trace of mischief in her, and his fear that his baby brother was going to get his heart broken eased slightly. But he wasn't finished yet. "You haven't told him about us," he said.

Katherine laughed. "Why in the world would I do that?"

"You don't think that's something he deserves to know about the woman he loves? You took me into your bed, Katherine. If you don't tell him, I will. I'm giving you the chance to be the one he hates less for it."

Katherine's eyes narrowed dangerously, but her lips quirked in amusement. "You and my dear sister, both so eager to pass judgment on me for how I conduct my relationship with Stefan, even while you keep secrets from each other. Shall I tell her that I had you first, then, or are you going to confess?"

Damon glared at her. "She already knows. We haven't discussed it yet, but if all her initial fears that I only saw her as a substitute for you are any indication, then she clearly knows you well enough to have realized what happened between us."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Very well, I'll tell Stefan. In the meantime, don't forget what I said. There are plenty of secrets to go around."

* * *

_October 22, 1864_

_Dear Diary, _

_I'm still having that dream almost every night. The one where I'm looking for Damon but can't find him. The rest of the details keep changing, except for that rabbit, Flopsy, for some reason, and the way that Stefan's always trying to get me to eat him. Does it mean something? If it does, then what?_

_I guess I'm kind of like Alice, and this place is my rabbit hole. Only, the bunny has a name and a cute little grey nose. I don't understand why I'm always searching for Damon in my dreams even though he's right here in my life. We're actually courting! I couldn't be happier. He said I would have liked him in 1864, and he was right._

_I'm in love with Damon. I've known it almost since I arrived here—well, before that, really, but I said it out loud for the first time today. Okay, so I only said it to Stefan, but I'll tell Damon in person soon. Before we went to the festival, I found a new hat on my bed with a little note from him. I'm saving the note here in this journal. I'm such a sap, I'll probably reread it every day. It was very sunny at the festival, so his gift came in handy. I had a wonderful time today, even though Damon did beat me out of the maze. _

…_Which brings me to my talk with Stefan. I'm worried about him. I can't help but care about him, and he's been kind of sucked into a crappy situation where I know Katherine must be feeding from him. She's probably making him drink her blood to heal him so that he doesn't seem so ill, like he did the first time. He knows what we are, but if she keeps compelling him like this, she's going to lose him forever. But maybe that's one of the things I won't be able to change, no matter what. And then there's me and Damon. Katherine told me I need to tell him what I am, but I'm still so afraid to. I'm afraid of the way he'll react, because what we have is just so precious—so new for him, and I don't want to risk doing something that could ruin it. I know it isn't fair that he doesn't know—I can't believe he thought I was sick! I think that's one of the reasons I love him so much. He always is concerned about me. I want to write more, I want to write so much more, but I know I can't. Not until I'm back where I'm supposed to be, anyway. _

Katherine rolled her eyes as she turned the page. Damon had taken Elena out to look at the stars or some such nonsense a quarter of an hour earlier—they were so sweet sometimes that it almost made Katherine's fangs ache—, and Elena really hadn't done a very good job of hiding her journal. Katherine had seen her writing in it frequently over the last couple of weeks, and she hadn't been able to resist taking a peek. After the way Elena had gushed about what a wonderful, thoughtful gift the journal was, Katherine had been disappointed to find that it made for such dull reading, but she knew just what to do to give her something more interesting to write about.

It was time for dear little sister to reveal who she was to Damon, and she was going to help her do it.

* * *

BlackDove: *there are spoilers if you haven't seen the next episode* *takes a deep breath and covers the bunny's ears* SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE over Elena telling Damon she loves him in that phone conversation! The new episode was SO fantastic! *grumbling about work and wanting a lot of awesome reviews to read after*

Taaroko: Oh, man, I loved that episode so much. I definitely wasn't expecting canon to give us an Elena who has actually admitted to being in love with Damon and no longer in love with Stefan, not to mention how *happy* she was when she told Damon she loves him. Plus, seems to me that original compulsion would trump the sire bond, so if Rebecca made her speak the truth, then it was the real truth. Bwahaha. Anyway, the chapter. I really enjoyed all that stuff with the fall festival. Hope you all did too! And we're even posting this a few hours earlier than we'd been expecting to, so you should leave us lots of extra reviews. :P


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter 13

_The road leading into Mystic Falls was dappled silver with moonlight. Damon could see the black outline of a carriage up ahead. It wasn't moving, and he could hear the horses snorting and stomping their hooves nervously. He drew closer. Why had they stopped? Did they need help? _

_The sound of a quickly stifled scream brought him up short. He stood frozen for a few seconds, his heart beating fast, but then he kept going, his curiosity overcoming his fear. Something was lying in the road about halfway between him and the carriage, and he realized with a thrill of horror that it was a body. He hurried forward, only to stagger back, his hand over his mouth. Glassy, lifeless eyes stared back up at him from the man's unfamiliar face, and his throat was a mess of blood and torn flesh. _

_Damon's heart was pounding harder than ever. He wanted to run away, but his legs wouldn't obey, instead carrying him closer to the carriage. Two figures stood to the side of it, locked in what looked like an intimate embrace. The woman had long, dark hair and olive skin. Damon watched in silence until the woman stepped back and let the man collapse in a heap on the ground. Then she turned to face him._

"_Elena?" he gasped. It was her, he was sure of it, but she didn't look like herself. She didn't look _human_. The whites of her eyes had turned a deep scarlet that almost looked black in the near-darkness, and thick bluish veins trailed up to her lower eyelids. Her lips were stained with blood, and a trickle of it ran down from the corner of her mouth to her chin. She smiled at him, and he saw that her eyeteeth were long and wickedly sharp like the fangs of a wildcat._

"_Damon," she said, and it was so strange to hear his name fall from her lips in the same breathy way she always said it when everything else about her was so frightfully different. In a flash, she was right in front of him. "I've been waiting for you."_

"_I thought we were to have another picnic," he said, frowning._

"_This is the picnic," she said, gesturing around at the two bodies lying on the ground. "You don't like the preparations? I went to so much trouble to arrange everything."_

"_How can this be?" he asked, lifting a hand to brush his thumb over the veins under her eyes. "Why do you have the face of a demon?"_

"_This is my real face. Haven't you been looking?"_

"_Of course I've been looking. You're all I can see, Elena."_

_She smiled softly at this, then caught both his hands in hers and pulled him towards the body beside the carriage. He'd thought the man was dead, but could now see that he was stirring feebly. "Come," said Elena, "I've had my fill already, but there's plenty left for you."_

_Damon's eyes widened and he tried to pull back, but her grip held him in place. "I can't," he protested. _

"_It's the only way we can be together forever, Damon," she said. _

_Damon nodded, and all of a sudden, it was as if he was looking at the two of them from outside himself. He saw his own features transform to match hers, and he lunged at the man and plunged his fangs into his already bleeding neck._

—

Damon sat bolt upright in his bed, eyes wide and heart pounding. He rubbed his hands over his face and felt the cold sweat there. The dream was already slipping away from him, even as he tried to remember it, but it left him with a sick feeling of foreboding in his stomach.

Damon took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself. He leaned forward and the light from the rising sun glaring through the gap in the curtains caught him directly in the eyes and made him wince. He threw his blankets to the side and stood from the bed. He needed to see Elena, and he wasn't going to wait until they all went down to breakfast.

Not wanting to waste another moment, he merely threw on his dressing gown before exiting his room. He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice the other person in the hallway until he walked right into her.

"Katherine?" he said groggily, squinting at her.

"Good morning to you too," she said airily.

"Forgive me," said Damon. "I should have attended more carefully to where I was going."

"What has you up and about so early?"

Damon raised an eyebrow. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I'm off to find Emily. I see no need to delay my morning preparations when I'm already awake," said Katherine. "Besides, ever since my sister and I were reunited, Emily's had twice as much work to do." She strode past him with an unsettling predatory grace, but paused at the top of the stairs and looked back with a smirk. "You had pleasant dreams, I hope?"

Damon frowned at her. What was that knowing twinkle in her eyes? Before he could say anything, she looked away and descended the stairs. Shaking himself slightly, Damon continued on to Elena's room. He hesitated for a moment at the door. More awake now, he realized how foolish he was being and that it wasn't necessary to disturb her if she might still be sleeping, but he couldn't help it. He took another deep breath, turned the handle, and walked inside.

—

Elena was very aware of a human Damon sitting on the edge of her bed as she woke, but she kept her eyes closed for a few moments, enjoying the feeling of having him so near. Obviously trying not to wake her, he moved closer and lay down beside her on top of the covers, reminding her of how he'd done much the same thing that night at the motel in Denver. More secure in the knowledge of her affections, however, this Damon was bold enough to lean even closer and press a soft kiss to her temple.

"Mmm…Damon?" she murmured, her eyes fluttering open to meet his. No matter how many times she looked into those eyes, she always managed to be surprised by how beautiful they were.

"Good morning," he said.

She smiled and shifted towards him so that she could slip an arm across his chest and nestle her head against the crook of his arm. He smelled different as a human. There was less leather, and less bourbon. His heart had a louder, more rapid beat that almost lulled her back to sleep. Instead, she angled her head so she could keep looking into his eyes. Even if she'd still had human eyesight, she could have counted every last one of the long black eyelashes that framed them.

After a few seconds, his gaze darted down to her lips, and he leaned down and kissed her. It was as soft as the previous kiss, and Elena's eyes drifted closed. He shifted to get a better angle, reaching up a hand to burrow into her hair and kissing her again. Much sooner than she would have liked, he pulled back. "Is this okay?" he asked.

She smiled at him with affection and just a touch of mischief as she ran her fingers through the curls at the nape of his neck. "I told you before, you have my permission to be impolite."

The corners of his lips twitched up. "We don't have long," he said. "Katherine is looking for Emily to get the pair of you ready."

"Duly noted," Elena said. Not waiting for him to move this time, she pulled him back down for another kiss. She wasn't sure how long it lasted, but Damon kept a slow, steady pace. He was being so sweet with her. She wanted to tell him he could wake her this way whenever he wanted, but that would require her to break off the kiss again. Instead, she kissed him harder, wrapping both arms around his neck. He clearly had no problem with this and quickly matched her enthusiasm.

The moment was shattered when, without warning, Elena felt a telltale pressure building in her eyeteeth. She heard Katherine's voice in her head, saying that blood and love go together. Panicking, she pulled away from Damon and ducked her head under the covers before he could see the veins bulging up beneath her eyes and the whites turning red. Elena gasped as she felt her eyes start to vein as well and pulled back from Damon suddenly.

"Elena? Are you okay? I didn't do anything—"

Elena took several deep breaths and felt the fangs slowly recede back into human-shaped teeth. After another second or two, she knew the veins had cleared as well. When she was certain she had herself under control, she let out a giggle from sheer relief. She listened to Damon, the worry in his voice that he had upset her somehow. Oh, how she loved him. She threw her blanket off her head.

"I'm fine," she began, but a knock on her door just then made her and Damon jump apart.

"Miss Elena? Are you awake?" It was Emily.

"Yes!" Elena called, trying not to sound too breathless. "Um, give me a few moments, please?"

"Very well, I'll just go finish up with Miss Pierce."

Elena turned to Damon. "I guess you need to go…," she said reluctantly.

Damon groaned and pulled her back to him, sinking his forehead down to the crook of her neck. "I wish we could spend more time together today."

Elena frowned. "Are you working with Stefan at the logging camp again?"

Damon nodded, looking resigned.

Elena really didn't want to get out of her bed, and she definitely didn't want Damon to get out of it, but she sucked it up, kissed him one last time, and rolled out from under the covers.

—

Damon didn't want to leave Elena, but he knew Emily would be back any second, and he didn't want anyone to come to the wrong conclusion about his intentions toward Elena, especially after the insinuations his father made the day they told him they were courting. The thought made Damon scowl. The man had some nerve saying such things. After all, it wasn't _Damon_ who had gotten their last maid pregnant.

He brushed off his annoyance as Elena led him by the hand to her bedroom door and opened it. "I'll see you later," she said. "Hopefully for dinner?"

"Stefan and I should be home by then." He couldn't help lingering in the doorway a little longer and cupping her cheek in his hand. Elena leaned into his touch and slid her hand up to cover his as she stared up at him, and he leaned down to kiss her once more.

"Good morning, brother."

For the second time in as many minutes, Damon and Elena jumped apart. This time, the interloper was Stefan, standing a little farther down the hall, his expression cold. Elena was only in her nightdress, and Damon hastily pushed her behind him so his brother wouldn't see her in such a state of undress. Stefan, on the other hand, was already fully dressed for the day in his work clothes.

"Good morning, Stefan," said Damon, unable to keep a note of irritation from his voice. Rather than taking the hint, Stefan merely continued to glare, and Damon was visited by a sudden suspicion that Katherine had done as he asked at the festival and told Stefan about them. Awkward, then, that the first time Stefan should see him after that would be as he was leaving Elena's room in an admittedly compromising fashion.

"Morning, Stefan!" Elena said with a strained sort of cheer from behind Damon's shoulder. She must have sensed the tension between them because she put one of her hands on Damon's arm in a calming gesture. Unfortunately, he wasn't the brother who needed calming.

Just then, Katherine's bedroom door opened to reveal Emily, whose eyes widened and then narrowed at the sight of the couple framed in the doorway opposite her.

"Miss Elena!" she barked. "I know Mr. Salvatore is courting you, but you're in no fit state to be seen by anybody! Back inside!"

Damon felt color rising in his face and saw that Elena was just as embarrassed. He began to edge somewhat sheepishly back towards his own room.

"I'll see you—," Elena began, but Emily cut her off.

"Are you hard of hearing?" she said, making chivvying motions at Elena and giving Damon a slight shove in the opposite direction. "In!" She followed Elena inside and slammed the door in Damon's face.

Damon shook his head and then chuckled. He could hear Emily already fussing loudly over Elena in her bedroom. Reluctantly, he faced his brother again, and was unsurprised to see that he was still seething with poorly suppressed anger.

"What were you doing in Elena's room?"

Damon rolled his eyes and headed to his room. He still had to get ready for the day, and if an argument with Stefan was inevitable, then he wanted to ensure that he wouldn't have to endure any lectures from his father on punctuality on top of it.

Stefan did not appreciate being ignored. "Damon, I was talking to you," he said loudly, following him.

"I'm well aware of that," said Damon. "But whatever it is, it can wait until I'm dressed for the day."

"No," said Stefan, following Damon right into his room. "It cannot wait. You were—you took advantage of Katherine! How do I know you won't do that to her sister?"

Damon raised an eyebrow as he retrieved breeches and a shirt from his wardrobe. "_That's_ what you think happened? I thought I might regret giving Katherine the chance to tell you first. As to Elena, she has nothing to do with this, and if you say another word suggesting that I would harm her in any way, you'll end up with a broken nose."

"How can you be so cavalier about this?" Stefan demanded, seizing Damon by the arm.

"I think it would be better if we continued this discussion outside," said Damon, glancing down at Stefan's hand on his arm, his lip curling. "I'll even let you take the first swing, but I refuse to have this out with Elena and Katherine mere feet away."

"Fine. You have five minutes." Stefan turned and left Damon's room, slamming the door behind him with a bang.

Damon chucked his dressing gown aside and pulled off his nightshirt, then threw on his work clothes with an efficiency he had learned during his months in the Confederate army. He _hated _fighting with his brother, but he'd known what he would be in for when he offered Katherine that out. Once he'd finished pulling on his boots, Damon left his room, took the stairs two at a time, and made for the back door, knowing Stefan would be waiting for him beyond the garden.

Evidently he had miscalculated. Damon took one step out the door and his jaw exploded in pain. He staggered backward and looked around at Stefan, who had clearly not been using the last few minutes to cool his head.

"How _dare _you touch Katherine that way," Stefan shouted.

Damon tried to focus on the fact that he had deserved that punch rather than giving in to the urge to return it. "The whole point of taking this _outside_ was to avoid making a spectacle that the entire household could _hear_," he said through gritted teeth. "Anyway, you shouldn't be so offended," he added, lifting a hand to feel the damage. To hell with the moral high ground. Whatever face Katherine had been putting on for Stefan, it wasn't the same one she'd shown Damon. She'd used and discarded him; there was only so much fall he was willing to take for her. "Katherine was hardly innocent. She's the one who came to me, and then kept coming back for more."

Stefan took another swing at him, but Damon was ready this time and blocked it.

"That was before I left the war for good," he added as an afterthought, "before I met Elena."

"You took advantage of her!" Stefan cried.

Damon burst out laughing. "What kind of pedestal have you put her on, brother? You don't take advantage of a woman like Katherine, she uses _you_ until she's done. Or at least she used _me_. You, on the other hand, seem to have caught her in her own snare. But, like I said before—you might not have been listening—, I was the one who suggested she come clean about it."

Stefan was panting heavily. "What? Why?"

"Come on, I didn't want what happened with her and me hanging over all of our heads now that I'm courting Elena, and I thought it would be best to put it all in the open before you got in too deep with Katherine, but evidently I waited too long for that."

"Then it's pure coincidence that the woman with whom you move on from Katherine is identical to her? Elena deserves better. But, then again, maybe she's only using you too. There are things you don't know, Damon—she's like Katherine in more than looks."

Damon's fist connected squarely with Stefan's nose. There was a cracking sound and blood spurted everywhere. Stefan reeled back, his hands over his face. "I did warn you not to bring Elena into this," said Damon. "I may be a deserter, but I've been in battle, Stefan. That first punch I allowed you was a courtesy; it's the only one you'll get if you cross that line again. Did it never occur to you that there's a reason I'm courting her and not Katherine?"

Stefan lunged at him again, tackling him to the ground. They struggled for a moment before Damon was able to use his legs to throw Stefan off, and they both hastily got back to their feet. Before Damon could make another move, iron bands seemed to lock around his shoulders and, next second, he was slammed against the side of the house hard enough to knock the wind out of him. As he gasped for breath, he realized that the iron bands had been Elena's arms. She was still standing at his side, looking concerned. He gaped at her, lost for words. How was she so strong? So fast?

"Let _go_ of me, Katherine!"

Damon turned to see that Katherine was holding Stefan back a few yards away. He was putting up quite a fight, trying to get at Damon again, but Katherine wasn't letting go and her grip appeared to be inescapable.

"_What _has gotten into you both?" said Elena.

Damon closed his eyes in an attempt to calm himself and clear his head. One of Elena's hands was pressed over his heart. He would still like nothing better than to punch Stefan a few more times, but instead he focused on the beautiful, amazing woman in front of him and wrapped his arms around her waist. He opened his eyes again to see hers darting all over his face, checking to see if he was okay.

"I apologize in advance for my language, but my brother has making a judgmental ass of himself," Damon said, the urge to keep fighting leaving him completely as Elena melted against his chest.

"You were intimate with Katherine and mere months later you're courting her _twin _sister, I can't help—"

"I'm courting her because I'm in love with her, so just shut your damn mouth, Stefan," Damon snapped.

Elena gasped. Damon realized what he'd said and felt his insides freeze. He hadn't meant it to come out that way.

"You're in love with me?" Elena asked softly.

Damon relaxed and lifted a hand to touch her cheek. "I am. I love you."

"I love you too," she said.

He didn't care that they were in front of their siblings, or that he had just gotten into a fistfight with his brother. Elena _loved_ him. He drew her as close to him as possible and kissed her soundly. By the time they came back to earth, Katherine had erupted into a fit of giggles. Damon cast her an annoyed look while Elena leaned her head against his chest.

"Forgive me, Elena," Katherine managed between giggles, "but they got into a _fight_ over us!"

Stefan didn't seem quite so amused. He was still shooting Damon rather angry looks. Damon, meanwhile, was noticing for the first time just how much damage he'd done with that punch. Stefan's face was still covered in blood. Just then, Damon felt Elena go slightly rigid in his arms and pull away from him. At the same time, Katherine abruptly stopped laughing and Stefan took a step back, his eyes wide. Damon stared between the three of them in confusion, ending on Elena.

"Elena?"

She turned to Damon, her expression full of panic. She quickly looked down, but not before he thought he'd glimpsed a strange redness in the whites of her eyes and what looked like veins spreading beneath them. But the next second, she was collapsing to the ground in a dead faint.

"Elena!" Damon cried in alarm, bending down and scooping her up in his arms. He must have been imagining things; her face looked just as it always did.

"Oh dear," said Katherine, "I had almost forgotten. I'm afraid my sister has never been able to handle the sight of blood."

"You're telling this to me _now_?" said Damon indignantly.

"It would probably be best to take her back to her room for the time being," Katherine said. She turned to Stefan, and began fussing over his nose. "Wipe her forehead with a cool cloth and she should come around."

—

"I don't see what's so amusing," said Stefan with a scowl as Katherine went about cleaning the blood off his face with a handkerchief.

"What could be more amusing than to have two such fine gentlemen as you and your brother fighting over me and my sister?" she said, smirking. Then she frowned. "Your nose is broken." Without a second thought, she let her fangs drop and bit her wrist.

"What are you doing?" said Stefan, still scowling.

"Drink," said Katherine. "We can't have that heal crooked, can we?"

With obvious reluctance, he brought her wrist to his lips and drank a few mouthfuls, then pushed her hand away. He grimaced, and Katherine heard several small cracking sounds as his nose healed.

"You shouldn't be angry with Damon, you know," she said quietly. "I knew what I was doing the entire time I was with him."

"Why were you with him?" Stefan asked, and there was such hurt in his eyes and his voice that Katherine couldn't help feeling moved to sympathy and even a little guilt.

"I am far from the angel you thought me to be when you confessed your love," she said. "When I came here, I saw two handsome brothers, and I wanted both of you." The hurt on his face intensified, and he turned away.

Katherine went on, "I could see that you were both smitten from almost the first moments you laid eyes on me. Damon was bold and charming, so eager to throw his whole being into a passionate love affair. I let him believe that that was what it was. You, on the other hand, were quiet and earnest."

More emotion was welling up inside her than she'd allowed herself to feel in a very long time. "I set out to capture both of your hearts, but even as I succeeded, I realized that I'd lost my own in the process." She caught one of Stefan's hands and brought it up to rest over her heart. "It's yours, Stefan. Yours alone."

Stefan slowly looked around at her again. She could see in his eyes how much he longed for what she said to be the truth, and she wasn't sure what convinced him that it was, but a moment later, he was pulling her into a kiss. Katherine had spent three and a half centuries running and guarding herself from anything that could hurt her, but somehow this boy had gotten through all of her defenses.

—

There was no way Damon would be making it to the logging camp in time to escape his father's ire, but, as he gently laid Elena down on her bed, he found that he couldn't care less. Her eyes opened and she smiled up at him.

"You're quite certain that you're not suffering some terrible illness?" he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

She nodded. "I'm perfectly fine," she said. Then she grimaced. "Actually, I think I'd feel a lot better if only my corset wasn't laced so tight. I've been keeping it loose, but Katherine did the laces today."

Damon chuckled. "I'll never understand why women find it necessary to wear such things if they're really so torturous."

"Well we wouldn't if I had any say in the matter," said Elena grumpily. She shot him a pleading look. "Can you help me with it? I can't reach."

"Of course," he said. She sat up and turned so her back was to him. He quickly undid the row of tiny pearl buttons holding the bodice of her overdress closed, then set to the rather more difficult task of pulling some slack into the laces of the corset underneath it. He found the difficulty helpful, though, as it had just occurred to him that he was alone in a bedchamber with the woman he loved (who loved him in return!) and was essentially in the process of undressing her.

At last, Elena took what sounded like a much-needed deep breath and leaned back against him. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "Do you know what I'd like better than anything?" he murmured against the smooth column of her neck.

"What?" she said, folding her arms over his and lacing their fingers together.

"To wake up beside you every morning, for the rest of our lives."

Elena went very still, but before he could grow too worried that he'd been too bold, she spoke. "I want that too, Damon," she said. She turned around to look at him, and he frowned when he saw the fear and sadness in her eyes. "But there's so much you don't know about me."

"Then tell me," he said, brushing her jawline with his thumb.

"I want to," she said earnestly. "But I don't know how yet." Her gaze dropped. "You should probably go find Stefan so you both can head to work."

—

Damon had no idea what secrets Elena could possibly have that she would be so afraid to tell him, and he could think of little else all day as he and Stefan felled trees side-by-side. He remembered how Stefan and Katherine had both suggested that there were things he didn't know about Elena. It only made sense that Katherine would know more about her own twin sister than he did, but why would Stefan know something about her that he didn't? And why had Stefan seemed to fear her in that moment before she fainted? It was all so strange.

Stefan seemed just as preoccupied as he was, but thankfully was no longer angry with him. How his nose looked perfectly normal and he didn't have a single bruise on him were quite the mysteries, but Damon thought it best not to bring it up.

To Damon's immense irritation, their father kept them at the camp so long that by the time they returned to the mansion, dinner had already ended. Stefan headed to the kitchens to see what he could scavenge from the leftovers, but Damon went straight upstairs, intent on freshening up so that he could speak with Elena. He was halfway through changing out of his work clothes into what he usually wore for evenings at home when he heard voices outside his door.

"And your plans for this evening, Miss Katherine?" said Emily.

"Elena and I will leaving shortly for our hunt, but we shouldn't be gone long. We'll only be going to the road by the quarry this time."

"Very well. I'll be ready to help you both into your nightclothes when you return."

Damon frowned. Had he heard that right? What was going on? What hunt? He couldn't exactly picture Elena and Katherine firing rifles and hauling back game, and what game did they think they'd be able to catch by the _quarry_, of all places?

After a second's hesitation, he threw on his riding boots instead of his evening shoes.

—

The road that ran adjacent to the quarry on the edge of town was dappled silver with moonlight. From atop his horse, Damon could see the black outline of a carriage up ahead. It wasn't moving, and he could hear the horses snorting and stomping their hooves nervously. He dismounted and tied his horse's reins to the branch of a nearby tree, then crept closer on foot. Where were Elena and Katherine? The carriage wasn't theirs; he'd seen the two chestnuts that pulled it in their stalls when he retrieved his own stallion from the stables. Surely they hadn't come here on foot, though.

The sound of a quickly stifled scream made him jump and sent his heart pounding. There was something extremely familiar about all of this. He kept going, even though part of him wanted to run. Soon, he was close enough to see a couple standing to the side of the carriage, the woman pressing the man back against the side of it. She had long, dark hair and olive skin.

"Elena?" Damon asked in shock.

The woman whirled around, leaving the man to stagger where he stood. "Damon!" she cried.

He stared at her. It seemed his mind hadn't been playing tricks on him earlier. The whites of her eyes had turned a deep scarlet that almost looked black in the near-darkness, and thick bluish veins trailed up to her lower eyelids. Her lips were stained with blood, and a trickle of it ran down from the corner of her mouth to her chin.

A peal of laughter rang out behind him, and he spun around. Mere feet away from him stood Katherine, her features altered in the same ways as Elena's, her lips parted in a wide, fanged grin. "Humans are so predictable," she said. "It would appear that the game is up, dear sister."

—

Taaroko: The scene where Damon and Elena are sitting on her bed and he's loosening her corset so she can breathe again looks a *lot* like a certain Buffy/Angel scene in my head. Hee. Incidentally, if there are any fellow Buffy/Angel shippers reading this, give us a shout. We're curious to see if we're the only ones who ship Buffy/Angel *and* Damon/Elena.

BlackDove: Oh, it did, indeed! I wanted to thank everyone who has been reviewing, favoriting, and adding the story to alerts. It means so much to us both. That's why there's definitely going to be a sequel to All This Time. I'm not sure how long this story is going to be, but we have so much going on in our heads I don't think we'll be able to fit it all into one story. We're also both writing a crossover between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Vampire Diaries. We haven't posted it yet, but that's because we're still working out the details and I actually personally want to see how S4 of TVD ends before we ever start posting. Please speak up if you haven't already! I want to hear what you thought of this chapter.

I know, cliff hanger. We're evil. ;)


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Taaroko: Looks like you'll all be getting an early (if not especially long) update, despite the fact that BlackDove and I have both been rather distracted by sudden brainwaves about our original fiction projects lately.

BlackDove: I haven't worked on my novel in about two-three years. If updates come slower after this, I'm sorry, but that's the good thing about writing with one of my friends for this story. :) I took down Gifts of Passion, btw, because I felt like I needed to rework it far more than I anticipated. If you were reading it, I'm sorry—I will post it again, maybe sometime after this story is finished if I hit a block on my novel again (so no freaking... It'll be better. I don't like to abandon stories). I also made a twitter account if you guys want to follow me: anglcdmn1986 I post sometimes about fanfiction/tweet while TVD is on. Haha.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

This was like something out of a nightmare, Elena thought. Surely there was no worse way for Damon to find out the truth than this.

"What's going on?" he said, taking a step back from Katherine.

"Yes, Elena, why don't you tell him what's going on," said Katherine, still with that wicked grin, keeping her eyes on Damon as she slowly began to circle him. He revolved on the spot, clearly unwilling to show her his back. The evening breeze carried the smell of his fear to Elena, and her eyes filled with tears as her fangs shrank back and the veins on her face vanished.

"You set this up," she accused.

"Of course I did," said Katherine, still circling. "It's very simple. You've been going on and on about how he deserves the truth from you, so you can either make the most of this or you can compel him to forget and keep this ridiculous dance going even longer. "

"I was going to tell him on my terms!" said Elena. "It wasn't supposed to be like this!"

"Turnabout is fair play, Elena. You interfere in my affairs, I interfere in yours," said Katherine. She cocked her head to the side. "But actually, I think I've done the pair of you a favor, so I'll be collecting on that now."

Before either Damon or Elena could move, Katherine bared her fangs in a snarl and lunged at Damon's throat.

"No!" Elena screamed, the sound of her voice mingling with Damon's cry of surprise and pain. In an instant, she had covered the distance between them and was throwing Katherine off of him with all her strength. Katherine flew at least thirty feet through the air, but rather than landing in a heap, she broke her fall with one hand splayed against the ground, which she then used to flip herself gracefully back upright.

"Stay the hell away from him," Elena spat, standing protectively in front of Damon.

"He's all yours," said Katherine with a smirk, dipping a curtsey before disappearing into the night.

Elena listened hard for a few seconds to make sure she was really gone, then turned slowly to face Damon, who was staring at her with wide eyes, one hand pressed tightly over the wound on his neck. "What in God's name is all of this, Elena?" he asked.

"Just, um, give me a minute," she said. Avoiding looking at him, she sped back to the carriage where the man she'd been feeding on was still standing blank-eyed, blood oozing from his neck. She quickly bit into her wrist and pressed it against the man's mouth until he swallowed, and then looked him in the eyes. "You're going to go on your way and forget any of this happened, and if you find any bloodstains on your clothes, you're going to scrub them out yourself and not worry anyone else about them."

The man nodded vaguely, and Elena climbed into the carriage, where his wife and teenage daughter were sitting in similarly dazed states. These two had been Katherine's victims tonight, and Elena cursed her stupidity for never realizing that Katherine had left the carriage and gone farther down the road to wait for Damon. Elena used her blood to heal both of them as well, and then did the same compulsion on them. Once satisfied that they were healthy and oblivious, she leapt back out and watched the man clamber up onto the front of the carriage and gather the reins in his hands.

Once they had continued on, Elena swallowed hard and walked slowly back to Damon. The scent of his blood hit her and she winced at the fresh onset of bloodlust, but she fisted her hands in the material of her dress and closed her eyes. She could do this. She wasn't going to attack him, and she wasn't going to let Katherine win by taking the easy way out and compelling him. She opened her eyes.

"Well?" he said expectantly. He wasn't backing away from her, and he no longer smelled like fear, but his eyes were frozen wide and his skin ashen.

"I'm a vampire," she said. "So is Katherine. We have to drink blood to survive."

"Those people," he said, his gaze now following the progress of the retreating carriage. "They're alright."

"If it were up to Katherine, they probably wouldn't be," said Elena ruefully. "But I don't want to hurt anyone, and she's been humoring me."

"Oh."

"Are you okay?" she asked, reaching up to touch his face. He tensed; no longer looking like he was on the verge of going into shock, but rather that he'd realized he was standing a foot away from a dangerous predator. She froze; her fingertips an inch from his skin. She remembered present-day Damon, the way he'd loved her both as a human and as a vampire, and her vision blurred with fresh tears. "Please don't be afraid of me, Damon," she said, her voice breaking.

A crease appeared between his eyebrows and his eyes darted back and forth between hers while the hand that wasn't clamped tight over his neck came up to catch her fingers and press them against his cheek. "Is the woman who declared her love for me this morning real, or is she just a mask you wear?"

"She isn't a mask," said Elena emphatically. "I love you."

Relief flashed across his face, and she was about to summon the courage to ask him if he could still love her too when he grimaced and shifted the hand he was holding against his neck. She dropped her own hand back to her side.

"I can heal you," she said.

"How?" he said, his brow furrowing again.

"If…if you take some of my blood, you'll be fine."

Of all the surreal things she'd experienced since landing in 1864, seeing Damon Salvatore look squeamish and scandalized at the idea of consuming blood had to take the cake, but eventually, he nodded. She offered him an encouraging smile before biting her wrist open again and holding it out to him. He still looked rather green, but he stared into her eyes as if seeking reassurance there. He must have found it, because he caught her wrist and held it to his lips.

For the first second, he looked completely revolted, but then something changed and his grip tightened. Elena heard his pulse quicken and felt her own heart beating faster. All too soon, her wound healed and he released her. They were both breathing rather heavily. Elena wanted nothing more than to launch herself into his arms and kiss him senseless, but she knew he still had some reservations about her, and she wasn't going to take advantage of the temporary connection forged by her blood. "Is it better?" she asked.

Comprehension dawned on his face and he gingerly pulled his hand away from his neck. There was still blood smeared there, but the wound was gone.

Elena, smiled, relieved. A small part of her had worried that it wouldn't work; his blood had made her a vampire, after all, so it seemed paradoxical somehow that hers could do anything for him.

"We should return," she said.

He frowned. "How did you and Katherine get here? All of our horses were still in the stables."

"We ran," said Elena, feeling slightly sheepish.

"But home is two miles away," said Damon incredulously.

She smirked. "Watch this." And she took off at vamp speed, stopping fifty feet away a split second later and looking back at him. "Over here!" she called.

His mouth fell open. She sped back to his side, making him jump, but then he laughed. "Incredible," he said in awe.

She grinned at him. "There _are_ a few good things about being a vampire."

"Oh, really?" he said, and the hint of playfulness in his tone did more to convince her that everything was going to be okay than anything else had so far. "Do tell."

"I will, but not tonight. You have enough to process as it is."

His face fell, but he nodded, and together they headed over to where he'd tied up his horse. She watched in silence as he untied the animal and led it back over to the road, where he offered her his arm. She took it, feeling a surge of hope rise in her chest, and they began to walk back to the Salvatore property.

They made it a good portion of the way home before either of them spoke, and it was Elena who ultimately broke the silence. "Perhaps it's too soon to ask this, but…how are you handling everything?"

"I don't know," he said. "I feel as if the whole world has gone mad."

"I know what you mean," said Elena. "That's how I felt when I found out about all of it too."

"The only thing I'm certain of right now is that I still trust you," said Damon.

"You do?" said Elena, surprised.

"You stopped Katherine when she attacked me, and you have the same sincerity about you that you've always had." He stopped abruptly and faced her. "Are my brother, my father, and everyone else in our house safe with Katherine there?"

"Katherine wants to keep a low profile during our stay in Mystic Falls," she said. "So none of your lives are in danger from her, but you should still never let your guard down around her. When she wants something, she takes it. We've had disagreements in the past, and believe me, you do not want to be the thing standing between her and whatever she's after."

"And my brother is what she's after now." Anger had begun to creep into his tone, and he started walking again at a much brisker pace.

Elena put her other hand on his arm. "She does love him, you know. Nobody is safer with her than he is."

"Are you certain she's really capable of love?"

"I wasn't always, but I am now. Not that she has the best ways of showing it."

He made an indistinct noise in his throat, and silence fell again. The gates at the front of the Salvatore property were now visible—at least to Elena. It was probably too dark for Damon to see them yet. She glanced up at his face and saw a deep frown there. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's strange, but the way I found you tonight…I dreamed something like that."

She blinked, confused. "What do you mean? When?"

"Last night."

"But how is that—" Her eyes widened and anger flooded her. "Katherine. She got inside your head."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll explain it all to you the first chance we get, but right now I need to have a word with my sister." On that ominous note, she withdrew her arm from around his and took off at full speed towards the mansion.

—

Elena stomped up the stairs. She didn't wait to knock on Katherine's door; she threw it open and strode inside.

"What the _hell _is wrong with you, Katherine?" Elena shouted.

Katherine eyed Elena through her mirror as Emily set her hairbrush down on the vanity and swiftly braided her long hair. "Whatever are you talking about, sister?"

Was Katherine really going to play this game with her? Elena slammed the door shut behind her.

"You _invaded _Damon's dreams. You set it up so he would find us out there in the woods, and then you _attacked _him. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Emily tied Katherine's braid off with a piece of ribbon and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Katherine, don't—"

Katherine snapped her head in Emily's direction. "The reminder is unnecessary, Emily; I haven't forgotten that I'm not to kill her," she snarled. "So if you would leave us…"

Emily nodded stiffly and left the room, shooting Elena a glance that told her to be cautious as she passed her.

"It's as I told you, Elena," said Katherine, flipping her braid over her shoulder and turning to face her, "turnabout is fair play. I assume Damon is freshly compelled?"

Elena crossed her arms. "No. He isn't," she said. "I'm not going to turn him into my puppet like you've turned Stefan into yours."

In a flash, Katherine shoved Elena roughly down onto the bed, her hand around her throat. "I am being _very _nice to you," she snarled. "Do not test me."

Elena angrily pushed Katherine off her. "_You _need to be honest with Stefan. I was honest with Damon, and I didn't have to compel him. That was our bargain. Do I have to put them both on vervain?"

Elena's head snapped sharply to the side as Katherine's open palm struck her hard against her cheek.

"You forget that we are not truly sisters, Elena, and that I am three and a half centuries your elder." Katherine spat. "Our _bargain_ was that I would remove the compulsion if you didn't have to use it on Damon, but you were too much of a coward to tell him the truth without my help, so the bargain is forfeit. I can do whatever the hell I please. I do not have to explain or justify myself to you."

Elena shoved Katherine hard enough to send her flying against her wardrobe this time. She barely managed to steady herself.

"When you bite and screw with the dreams of the man I'm in love with, you are obligated to explain yourself." Elena said. "And if you _really _loved Stefan, you'd have more respect for him _and_ that means having more respect for the people he cares about. He and Damon are not our toys. You need to undo the compulsion."

Next thing she knew, Katherine was flying at her in rage.

—

After the incredibly unnerving manner in which Elena had taken her leave, Damon thought it best not to see what she was up to right away once he'd handed his horse off to Thomas. Instead, he went to Stefan's room.

Predictably, Stefan was hunched over his writing desk, scribbling away in his journal when Damon entered. He froze at the sound of the door opening and looked around. Neither of them said a word, but Stefan's eyes traveled down to Damon's neck, which was still smeared with blood.

"So now you know," he said.

"And apparently you've known for a while," Damon countered.

"Did Elena do that?" said Stefan, pointing at Damon's neck.

"Katherine did," said Damon.

Stefan stood abruptly, looking angry and…jealous? What?

"She said she was collecting on the favor Elena and I owed her for saving Elena the trouble of finding a way to tell me the truth," Damon elaborated with a scowl. "Then she attacked me."

"Ah," said Stefan, relaxing.

Damon stared at him in disbelief. "Really, Stefan? I tell you your lady, the dangerous vampire, attacked me and that's all you can say?" He narrowed his eyes and stepped closer. "That's what that mark was on your neck that day in the gardens. She's been biting you too, hasn't she?"

"That's none of your business," said Stefan, turning back to his desk and placing his journal in the top drawer.

"I beg your pardon?" said Damon. "Unlike you, I actually give a damn when I learn that my brother's been turned into a food source, so it absolutely is my business."

"_Nothing_ that happens between me and Katherine is your business, Damon."

Damon closed the rest of the distance between them and seized Stefan by the front of his shirt. "What the hell is wrong with you, brother? Why are you letting her treat you this way?" He remembered the feeling of Stefan's nose breaking under his fist twelve hours earlier, and then his confusion at the logging camp when it seemed perfectly fine. He quickly put two and two together. "I suppose she fed you her blood to heal your nose this morning. Do I need to re-break it before you see reason?"

"Get off me," Stefan snapped, throwing Damon's hands away and shoving him back. "Stop pretending you're doing any of this out of brotherly love. You just don't want to see me and Katherine happy together."

"Do you even hear yourself?" said Damon. "You're talking nonsense. True, it might be _slightly_ easier for me to wish you happy if the woman you'd taken up with wasn't the same one who cast me aside, but we aren't just talking about a woman, we're talking about a vampire. _Happiness_, therefore, is irrelevant."

"Then perhaps your time would be better spent worrying about Elena instead."

"_Elena_ isn't the one who's been attacking us!" said Damon, his voice rising now in frustration. "Good Lord, Stefan! Between what Katherine's been drinking and what's been rushing in a different direction entirely of late, is there _any _blood left in your brain?"

Stefan lunged at him with an incoherent shout of anger, slamming him against the large wardrobe next to the desk. Damon would have retaliated, but more pieces kept falling into place, and the sudden clarity was dizzying. What had Elena said when he mentioned his dream? That Katherine had gotten inside his head. He still didn't know what that meant, but Stefan's behavior would make far more sense if Katherine had been manipulating his mind somehow.

"If you tell a single soul about Katherine, you will be very sorry," said Stefan.

"Word of advice, brother," said Damon, pushing Stefan away from him, "non sequiturs don't make the best threats. Besides, you forget that telling someone about Katherine would mean telling them about Elena, and you can be sure that I have no plans to do that." With that, he left the room. If Stefan truly wasn't in his right mind, then there was little point in continuing the conversation, and Damon wanted Stefan to properly earn any beating he gave him.

He was halfway back to his own room when he heard a shriek of pain come from Katherine's. His previous plans to leave Elena and Katherine to their discussion flew out the window in an instant. He burst into Katherine's room, only to stop short at the sight that greeted him. He wasn't sure what he had expected to find, but he certainly hadn't expected to see both Pierce twins curled on the floor, clutching their heads in agony while Emily stood over them with her hands outstretched and a thunderous expression on her face.

"What…what…?" he stammered, his gaze drawn to Elena, who was looking up at him, her lovely features twisted in pain.

"I think you're in the wrong bedroom, young man," said Emily.

Damon stared at Emily, but didn't move.

Emily raised an eyebrow. "You won't like it if I have to make you go back to your own room."

"What are you doing to them?"

"Nothing they won't recover from within moments, but they needed to be taught a lesson."

He looked back at Elena, who shook her head. Reluctantly, he retreated back out of the room. He barely made it back to his own before the madness of the day seemed to crash over him, and it was all he could do not to fall into bed still fully clothed.

—

Elena hesitated in front of Damon's bedroom door before she opened it. She'd just spent the last twenty minutes avoiding Emily's silent glares of disapproval while she helped her into her nightclothes and prepared her for bed, and it wouldn't be wise to do anything else to cross her. Still, she was willing to risk another dose of witchy brain whammy for being caught in Damon's room if it meant ensuring that Katherine couldn't invade his dreams again.

"Damon?" she whispered as she approached his bed. He was already lying down and his eyes were closed, but she couldn't tell if he was asleep yet. She tentatively sat on the edge of Damon's bed.

"Elena?" he said groggily. So he had been asleep, or nearly so. For a moment, she worried he might react with fear once he was more awake, but he only moved aside his covers in a gesture for her to climb underneath with him.

"Hi," she said softly when he wrapped one of his arms around her. "Is this okay?"

Damon nodded and pushed some hair from her face. "I still have so many questions."

"We'll talk in the morning, I promise. Right now, I just need you to hold me."

He smirked. "I find that very amusing seeing as I'm the one who spent the evening making life-altering discoveries."

Elena huffed and buried her head into his chest. "You're the man in this relationship. Take it like one."

Damon chuckled.

"I love you," said Elena sleepily.

He sighed and turned to kiss her forehead. "I love you too."


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter 15

_Elena looked around the Grill with a smile on her face. A band was playing, and Tyler and Caroline, Bonnie and Jeremy, and Matt and April were happily dancing to the music, the boys looking dashing in their top hats and tails and the girls looking like princesses in their extravagant ball gowns. She noted with satisfaction that April had gone with the red one after all. _

_Stefan was standing on the far side of the dance floor, wearing a modern button-up shirt and jeans, his arms folded, looking grumpy. Elena nudged Katherine with her elbow. "You don't have to wait for him to ask you to dance," she said. _

_Katherine shot her an annoyed look. "Yes I do. He chases me. That's how this works. I can't be the one chasing him—it just isn't done."_

"_You're being ridiculous. You're too good at hiding; he'll never be able to find you."_

"_If you're wrong about this, I'm going to stake you," Katherine grumbled. In her skinny jeans, it was easy for her to slip between all the twirling hoop skirts on the dance floor as she made her way over to Stefan._

"_It's because of the sire bond, you know."_

_Elena turned. Elijah had taken Katherine's seat beside her. He looked like a Bond villain, sitting there in a pinstripe suite, casually scratching the ears of the fluffy rabbit in his lap. _

_She frowned. "Isn't that supposed to be a cat?"_

"_Don't be absurd."_

_She rolled her eyes and looked out at the dance floor again. Stefan and Katherine had joined the others there, now more suitably dressed for the occasion. They were smiling at each other, but a red stain was slowly growing on Stefan's crisp white collar. _

_Elena pursed her lips. "She still doesn't get it," she muttered, looking at the rest of the dancers. Then she looked over at the bar, but nobody was there. Someone was missing. Someone was always missing._

"_You've been searching for Damon," said Elijah. "But you won't find him."_

"_That's not true," said Elena. _

"_You know it is. As long as the sire bond remains unbroken, you'll never be able to find him."_

"_No. I'm not giving up."_

"_My dear girl, I certainly wasn't suggesting you do that," Elijah chuckled._

—

It was particularly nice, after yet another bizarre and frustrating dream, to wake up in Damon's arms. If someone had told Elena twenty-four hours ago that she would be waking up this way with a Damon who had found out about vampires and that she was one less than twelve hours ago, she never would have believed them, but here they were.

She opened her eyes. He was still asleep. She watched him with a soft smile, but her mind was replaying her conversation with Elijah in her dream. The sire bond wasn't a problem here in the past. Aside from the fact that she'd been going against present-day Damon's instructions to stay away from him for the better part of two months here in 1864, human Damon had inadvertently phrased a few requests as orders and she hadn't felt the slightest pull to obey.

Damon's brow furrowed slightly and he shifted in his sleep. She could hear his heart rate beginning to increase, which meant he was probably about to wake up. Sure enough, a few seconds later, his eyes opened.

"Good morning," said Elena.

Damon raised his hand to cover a massive yawn, then slipped it around her middle to pull her closer and buried his face in her hair.

Elena giggled. "Are you sure you remember what happened yesterday evening, Damon?"

"I'm not likely to forget something like that, am I?" he said, not budging an inch. "And I believe I was promised answers."

"What do you want to know?"

"Tell me one of the other good things about being a vampire."

"Well, if I focus, I can hear everything going on in this house."

He pulled back enough to look at her. "Really?"

"Yes," said Elena. She screwed up her face in concentration and listened, but she regretted it almost immediately when she heard the unmistakable sounds of moaning coming from the room down the hall. "I take it back, enhanced hearing isn't one of the good things."

"Why?" said Damon, frowning. "What did you hear?"

Elena felt herself go red. "Well, um. Katherine is in Stefan's room." Was this the sort of thing present-day Damon had had to put up with when she was with Stefan? How mortifying. She heard another moan—this time from Stefan—and found herself wishing heartily that brain bleach was a real thing. Or maybe she would just track down Elijah and persuade him to compel it from her memory.

"What _else_ can you hear?" said Damon.

Immensely grateful to him for offering such an escape, Elena listened again, trying to block out the sounds from Stefan's room. "Emily is singing to her children," she said with a smile. "She has such a sweet voice." But then she frowned. "Emily. I should go. She won't be happy if she finds me here. I need to make my bed look like it's been slept in."

"What was she doing to you and Katherine when I found you yesterday?" said Damon. "And what is she?"

"She's—wait, you won't tell anyone, will you?"

"Of course not."

"Okay, she's a witch," said Elena. Off his expression, she hastened to add, "And that's not a bad thing, I swear. Witches are nearly always good, fighting on the side of nature and mankind. They don't usually like working with vampires, but Katherine saved Emily's life, so Emily is loyal to her. When you found us last night, Katherine and I had been fighting, and Emily put a stop to it."

"How?" said Damon. "What did she do?"

Elena grimaced at the memory. "She used her magic to pop the blood vessels in our brains over and over. That kind of thing would kill a human, but we just keep healing. It hurts like you wouldn't believe."

Damon exhaled with enough force to make his cheeks puff out. "Vampires, witches. I suppose next I'll find out that dragons and fairies are real too."

Elena chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Not that I know of," she said. She started to get up, but he pulled her back to him and kissed her. Before she could pull away and remind him about Emily, he stopped and pressed a finger to her lips.

"I know you need to leave now," he said, "but tell me we'll be able to finish this conversation soon."

"We will. Meet me by the statue at the end of the gardens after breakfast."

—

If Emily suspected anything amiss about Elena's sleeping arrangements when she entered her room five minutes later, she kept it to herself. Elena showed her which dress she wanted to wear for the day and went through the usual routine as if nothing unpleasant at all had happened the night before.

"I noticed the blood on Mr. Salvatore's neck last night," said Emily halfway through lacing up Elena's corset.

"Katherine bit him."

Emily cinched up another section of the laces. "There was no wound. I'm assuming you healed him?"

"Of course I did," said Elena. She frowned. "That won't be a problem, will it? I mean, in my time, his blood is what made me a vampire. Will weird time paradox things happen if he drinks my blood before he's a vampire?"

"I can't be sure," said Emily. "However, I think it would be unwise to take the chance. What if he were to die with _your_ blood in his system?" She pulled another section of laces tight.

Elena braced herself a little more firmly against the bedframe and frowned. "Yeah, turning the vampire who made me a vampire would definitely count as a paradox," she said. "And even if that didn't matter, he could end up sired to _me_, and then we'd have a whole new set of problems."

"Indeed," said Emily, sounding slightly amused now.

Elena said nothing as Emily finished the laces and then helped her into the rest of the layers of her dress. After that, they moved over to the vanity table and Emily began to arrange her hair into an elegant style. Elena's thoughts drifted back to the day before, when Damon had said he wanted to wake up with her every morning for the rest of their lives. Her heart ached. _She_ might be able to live out that dream, if she managed to overcome all the obstacles both here and in the present, but even if everything went smoothly, _he_ would have to face a hundred and forty-five years of lonely mornings.

"I suppose I have no choice but to go back," she said.

Emily looked at her in the mirror for a long moment before she spoke. "A century and a half is a very long time not to see the rest of your loved ones."

The thought of not seeing her brother or her friends for so long was like a knife in Elena's chest, but they would never know she'd been gone until she was back in place either way. She'd be the only one hurting from that separation if she stayed. If she went back, on the other hand…. "I know," she said. "But it's also a long time to make Damon wait for me. I saw what that did to him when it was Katherine he waited all those years for. I don't want to do that to him."

"You aren't supposed to be here, Elena," said Emily. "As soon as it is possible to send you back, it is my obligation to do so."

Elena's throat tightened, but she swallowed painfully and nodded. "You haven't heard anything about Johnathan Gilbert's inventions yet, have you?"

"Not so far," said Emily. She placed a sympathetic hand on Elena's shoulder. "It'll be a while yet before you have to go."

Elena briefly reached up to squeeze Emily's fingers and managed a shaky smile. "I'm glad."

—

After Elena left, Damon dressed quickly and made his way down to his father's study, which was usually where the man could be found every day before breakfast. He steeled his resolve and knocked on the door. "Father? May I come in?"

"If it's important."

Damon suppressed a scowl. He pushed the door open and strode inside, stopping right in front of the large desk behind which his father sat, poring over what looked like the accounts for his many investments. "What brings you here so early?" said Giuseppe without looking up.

Damon decided to cut straight to the chase. "You once spoke of making me a partner in your businesses," he said.

That certainly caught his father's attention. The man's head immediately snapped up, but his expression quickly shifted from surprise to disdain. "That was before you insisted on pursuing a law degree. Before you joined the army only to abandon it."

"I don't regret deserting," said Damon firmly. "I couldn't continue to fight for a cause I don't believe in, but I know that's cost me any future in politics. I would never expect you to make me your partner after everything that's happened since you first spoke of it, but I do hope you'll consider giving me at least a few responsibilities, and I shall do my best to earn more of them over time."

Giuseppe scrutinized him for a long moment. "Perhaps Miss Elena has been a good influence on you after all," he said grudgingly.

For the first time in years, Damon felt himself smile in his father's presence. "She has been." He thought back to everything he'd learned about Elena since yesterday. He certainly hadn't been expecting it, but in the end, it changed nothing.

"Go break your fast, son," said Giuseppe, returning his attention to his papers. "I'll see if I can't rustle up something for you to work on for this afternoon."

—

Katherine lay in bed next to Stefan, propped up on her right elbow while she trailed her left hand across his bare chest, enjoying the sound of his heartbeat, which still raced from their recent amorous activities. For a boy of not quite seventeen who had no previous lovers, he was remarkably good at keeping up with her. It was no wonder Elena had heard them earlier. But that had been Katherine's intention.

It was infuriating. She wasn't allowed to kill Elena and now the best she could do to retaliate against her for winning Damon over sans compulsion was to embarrass her with her and Stefan's noisy lovemaking.

Oh well. The lovemaking was still worthwhile for its own sake.

"I'm sure we've missed breakfast by now," said Stefan, though he didn't seem particularly disappointed. They'd managed to get about half dressed before giving up again.

Katherine smirked. "_You_ might have," she said as she rolled on top of him. He looked up at her curiously and reached up to cup her cheek in his left hand. Katherine closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. The scent of his blood called to her through the skin in his wrist, and she let her vampiric features emerge.

"You're so beautiful," Stefan said. He stroked her cheek where the veins spread just underneath her eyes. Elena was a fool, Katherine thought. What good was the power of compulsion if she couldn't use it hold onto what she wanted most? His fear had been an unnecessary obstacle between them, and she had freed him of it.

Katherine began to trail kisses from his wrist up to his shoulder, then took her time as she made her way to his throat. Stefan moaned in pleasure, and then gasped as she sank her teeth into his neck. The rich, coppery blood flowed into her mouth, and Stefan's arms tightened around her as she drank.

After just a few mouthfuls, she withdrew her fangs and swabbed the shallow wounds clean with her tongue.

"I don't know how you make that feel so good," he groaned appreciatively.

Katherine pulled back to smile at him, then bit her wrist. "Drink," she said. "My sister and your brother won't be happy with us if they see that."

Stefan drank her blood without hesitation. Katherine closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the feeling. This would be even better once he was a vampire too. He only stopped when the cut on her wrist healed, then pulled her face back down to his for a kiss, which she returned with enthusiasm.

"Will you turn me into a vampire?" Stefan asked breathlessly when she pulled back to let him breathe.

Katherine scooted down a bit so she could look at him and rest her chin on her hands on his chest. "Perhaps."

"We could be together forever," he said with a soft smile.

Katherine leaned down to kiss him again when she was interrupted by a knock on the door. With an aggravated sigh, Katherine sat up. "Yes?" she said, looking over her shoulder at Emily.

"Excuse me, Miss Katherine? Miss Pearl is here to see you."

"I'll be down soon, please ask her to wait," Katherine said, turning to look down at Stefan again. "Thank you, Emily," she added pointedly, and the door closed again. Stefan looked close to laughter, but Katherine pouted. "Fun's over."

—

Elena and Damon walked through the gardens at a leisurely pace, her arm tucked securely around one of his.

"Now then," said Damon, "tell me more about vampires." He kept his voice low so no servants would hear them. He stopped walking and pulled Elena over to a stone bench to sit down with her. "I want to know everything, Elena."

Elena played idly with one of the curls trailing over her shoulder. "There's so much…I'm not sure where I should start."

"You haven't always been a vampire, have you? Yesterday you made it sound as if you were once in my position, learning about all of this."

"No, I was human—all vampires start out that way."

"Then how did you become a vampire?"

Elena sighed. He was asking the big question first. "By dying with vampire blood in my system."

Damon gasped and seized her hands. "You died?"

Yes, because a stupid crazy original bitch ran my best friend's truck off a bridge. But she couldn't exactly say that. "It was a carriage accident," she said. Close enough. "The horses spooked, and the carriage went off a bridge into a river. I was trapped underwater." Elena ran her thumb over Damon's knuckles. "But I'm here now. Please don't let it worry you."

Damon shook his head. "The thought of anything happening to you worries me," he said.

Elena smiled and squeezed his fingers. "Nothing will happen. I'm strong enough to handle anything that comes at me."

"I saw how far you threw Katherine last night," Damon said, his eyes going unfocused—no doubt he was replaying it in his mind. "Are all vampires that strong?"

"Yes, we are. The older the vampire, the stronger," Elena said. "We're also immortal, and as long as we're drinking enough blood, we can heal from just about any injury within seconds."

"Immortal," said Damon. "So you'll never age?"

Elena shook her head. "Not a day," she said. "I'll be eighteen forever." Well—forever until Jeremy completed his mark and they found the cure, but all of that fell under the heading of future spoilers that 1864 Damon wasn't allowed to know.

"Incredible," said Damon. He hadn't shown any signs of fear all day. In fact, he was actually sitting closer to her than he had been a moment ago. It had been foolish of her to doubt him, she realized.

—

Katherine walked down the stairs, now fully dressed in her green gown. Stefan was getting better at helping her into her clothes—he'd had rather a lot of practice lately—, but she'd had to fix her hair herself. Pearl and Emily were waiting in front of the door.

"Good to see you, Pearl," Katherine said.

"Perhaps we can talk outside," said Pearl. She looked very fine today in her maroon dress, but judging from her tone and expression, this was more than a social call.

So much for her hope that she'd be able to get back to Stefan quickly. "Emily," Katherine said. "Would you please tell Mr. Salvatore I've stepped away?"

"Of course," said Emily, dropping a curtsey and departing, while Katherine followed Pearl outside.

"How long do you plan on staying with the Salvatores?" Pearl asked as they walked along the side of the house. "People talk, Katherine."

"I see no harm in that." Katherine said. "As far as anyone can see, Damon and Elena are enjoying a perfectly ordinary courtship, and Stefan and I a perfectly ordinary flirtation, as he's too young for anything else."

Pearl pursed her lips. "Ordinary or not, you're drawing more attention to yourselves than you need to."

Katherine frowned. "Let the townspeople have their gossip. There's nothing for them to be suspicious of. The Salvatores have been kind to take my sister and me in; we're only poor orphan girls who lost our family in the fires, remember?" she said with mock sorrow.

"A fire you lit, no doubt," Pearl said dryly.

Katherine giggled. Of course she had. Meanwhile, they had walked far enough that they could see where Annabelle stood waiting by the horses.

"Honey, please be careful!" Pearl called loudly to her daughter. Pearl might be one of the most overprotective mothers Katherine had ever met, but as there was no chance of a horse harming a vampire, particularly one as old as Annabelle, she was sure the comment had been for the benefit of the ignorant human man standing next to her.

Pearl pulled a small glass jar from her purse. "Honoria Fell came by the apothecary the other day, with a case of this elixir. She asked that it be sold at a reduced rate."

"I don't follow," Katherine said.

Pearl held the bottle out to her. "Try it."

Katherine took it and pulled out the cork. She lifted it to her nose and sniffed it, then poured a few drops on her wrist. She hissed in pain as the liquid seared her skin like fire. "What in hell?"

"Vervain," said Pearl.

"Why is there ver—," Katherine began, but she froze and looked up at Pearl as she realized the answer. "They know."

"They're trying to find us, and they're getting crafty about it," Pearl said.

"The townspeople ingesting vervain? Well that's inconvenient."

"It might be time for us to move on again," Pearl said.

Katherine was about to dismiss the idea when she noticed the sound of Elena's and Damon's voices coming from not too far away.

—

"Elena, I want to marry you," Damon blurted suddenly.

Elena's heart skipped a beat and her mouth dropped open. "What?"

"I'm not proposing now," he clarified hastily. "It's right, I know it, but right now would be too soon."

Elena's vision blurred with tears. _It's right. Just not right now._ It was times like this, when he was so _close_ to the Damon she knew from the present, that made her miss everything else so much, and her emotions had already been in overdrive ever since Katherine sprang the vampire reveal on him. Hearing him say that to her just became too much. But, oh, she was in love with Damon as a human too. And he wanted to marry her! It was a wonderful thought, but she knew she couldn't stay here with him. Emily had to send her back, and there wasn't anything anyone could do about it.

Damon was watching her nervously. "If this is how you're reacting now, I dread to think how you'll react once I give you a ring," he said.

This anxious attempt at humor only opened the floodgates further, and Elena began to cry in earnest.

"…Elena?"

Without warning, she dove at him with enough force to knock him off the bench and into the soft grass, her lips fused to his and her arms locked around his neck. He grunted at the impact but kissed her back.

"I love you so much," Elena said, beaming.

Damon smiled up at her, his love shining in his eyes. But then something seemed to occur to him. "I spoke to my father earlier," he said.

Elena looked at him in confusion, and they both returned to the bench. "About what?"

"About taking a greater hand in the family businesses."

"Is that what you want?" she said, surprised.

"I can hardly expect you to become part of this family if I'm still only living on Father's income, can I? I may be a deserter, but I'm no layabout."

—

"I like it here, Pearl. I'm not interested in leaving just yet." Katherine's eyes lingered on Damon and Elena. They were sitting close together, hands intertwined. She couldn't believe he had accepted her so easily. "I think Elena shares my sentiments," she said.

Something about her tone must have betrayed her true feelings, as Pearl arched an eyebrow and said, "Careful Katherine. That particular dress might flatter you, but green really isn't your color."

Katherine scowled at her. "It's not what you think. Elena keeps insisting that I take a more human approach with Stefan, remove the compulsion on him so that he's free to be as terrified of me as he pleases."

"She has a point, Katherine," said Pearl.

"Oh, Pearl, not you too," Katherine groaned.

There was that sardonic eyebrow again. "I take it Elena didn't have to compel the elder Salvatore brother at all."

"No," said Katherine. "Despite my attempts to force the issue last night. They only seem to have grown closer." She looked over at Damon and Elena again. He appeared to be completely enthralled by what she was telling him, and not frightened in the least.

"Your compulsion on the younger Salvatore will only last as long as he is human. Do you want him to feel betrayed and used once he is a vampire and his mind is his own again? A fine beginning for your eternity together. Or would you rather he be in full command of himself when he takes your blood the final time?"

Katherine let Pearl's words wash over her without responding.

"All the same," Pearl continued, "You must be careful. Compelled, he's no danger to us. Free, he may panic and attempt to expose us."

Katherine was denied the opportunity to retort by Annabelle, who had evidently grown bored of waiting with the horses and wandered closer to where they stood conversing. "Can we go, Mama?" she said.

"I'll only be a minute longer, dear," said Pearl. Annabelle nodded and left them alone again. Pearl fixed Katherine with a very serious look. "If the humans get too close to us, I'm leaving. I won't risk my daughter's life." With that, she curtseyed and headed over to join Annabelle, leaving Katherine alone with her thoughts.

—

Elena watched Pearl and Annabelle ride off in the direction of town and saw the contemptuous glance Katherine shot her before she disappeared back into the house. She'd been so wrapped up in her conversation with Damon that she hadn't paid them much attention, but she would have to ask Katherine what the visit had been about later.

"Yesterday, Katherine told you that you could make me forget," said Damon, "and you said she'd been inside my head. What did that mean?"

"Compulsion," said Elena. "Vampires can control the minds of humans, including altering their memories, forcing them to do whatever they want—even feel however they want. And they can invade dreams and control those too."

Damon's expression had darkened considerably through this explanation. "That's what Katherine's been doing to Stefan, isn't it?"

Elena nodded grimly. "She compelled him not to be afraid of her. Knowing her, she probably revealed she was a vampire by biting him."

Damon stood up and began pacing angrily in front of her. "We have to do something."

"I know, and I'm working on it with her. Katherine is quite…stubborn, and she doesn't appreciate it when someone tries to make her change her ways."

—

It was late. Dinner was over, but Giuseppe had kept Damon in his study straight through it, and they'd taken a tray in there instead. Still, Elena wanted to see him before she and Katherine went hunting. She was so touched that he would want to put aside his differences with his father for her. He deserved at least a kiss for it.

At last, Damon came up the steps, and Elena immediately straightened. "Hi," she said, smiling.

Damon must have read her mind, because without so much as returning her salutation, he swooped in and pulled her to him for a kiss.

"How was work, honey?" Elena joked when they broke apart.

Damon groaned. "Well I think I have a good idea of what Purgatory must be like now."

Elena furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Paperwork," Damon explained. "Loads. I think Father is testing the strength of my resolve. He probably expected me to give up after the first set of order reports. Who knew I could exceed his expectations and rebel all at the same time?"

Elena laughed and hugged him. "I missed you all afternoon," she said. Perhaps it was just her heightened vampire emotions, but it didn't seem like she'd be getting over her relief that he still wanted to be with her any time soon.

A door opened down the hall from them and Stefan appeared. He froze at the sight of them. "Damon, Elena," he said. "If you'll excuse me." Without further ado, he marched straight over to Katherine's door and slipped into her room.

Almost before Elena could react, Damon was going after him, but she grabbed him by the arm before he could take more than two steps. "What are you doing?" she asked.

Damon looked around at her incredulously. "What do you mean, what am I doing? I can't just let him spend the night with her after what you told me about compulsion!" He tried to pull his arm free, but Elena only tightened her grip.

"Damon, she lured you out and attacked you last night because she was annoyed with me," said Elena. "We shouldn't test her so soon."

"No, Elena," said Damon, "he's my baby brother, and this has been going on too long for me to want to use kid gloves with her."

Elena opened her mouth, then shut it again. He was right. Katherine was treating Stefan like a puppet and a chew toy, and it had to stop.

"Okay," she said, letting go of his arm.

Damon didn't hesitate to stride up to Katherine's room and barge inside. Wishing she'd held onto him a bit longer, Elena followed in his wake, entering the room in time to see Stefan and Katherine disengage from an already heated embrace, his hair in disarray and the bodice of her gown unbuttoned and slipping low around her shoulders. Couldn't they at least wait until they knew everyone else was asleep? Elena wondered. But then, perhaps Katherine had just wanted to get in a quickie before they went hunting.

"What the hell, Damon?" Stefan demanded, blocking Katherine from view while she righted her clothing.

"Civilized people generally knock, you know," said Katherine irritably.

"Funny," said Damon, "I don't recall you knocking before you barged into my dreams, so I think I'm being exactly as civil as the situation warrants."

"You need to remove the compulsion, Katherine," said Elena.

"Like hell," Katherine spat.

"Katherine, you will stop controlling my brother, or I will see to it that you don't spend another night under this roof!"

"How dare you speak to her that way!" cried Stefan in outrage, taking a step towards Damon, but Katherine blurred in front of him and let out a merciless laugh.

"Perhaps my sister forgot to explain how invitations work for vampires. Once welcome, always welcome. You won't be rid of me so easily."

"Then I'll do whatever it takes," said Damon, his lip curling, unfazed by her little display of vampire speed.

Elena had to suppress the urge to slap a hand over her face. Clearly it didn't matter what year they were in; human or vampire, Damon just couldn't resist provoking people, even if they were capable of crushing him without breaking a sweat. "Look, Katherine," she said, stepping in front of Damon before he could reach the point of no return with this madness, "if you really love him, then don't you want him to love you back on his own terms?"

"Of course I love her on my own terms," said Stefan indignantly. "Katherine, what are they talking about?"

If Elena hadn't been glaring at Katherine, she would have missed the way the older vampire flinched at Stefan's words. So they _were_ getting somewhere with her after all. "If you don't fix this," she said quietly, "you're going to regret it for the rest of your life. And you're going to live forever. It's up to you."

They stared each other down for what must have been a full minute at least, Damon and Stefan standing silent vigil at their sides. At long last, Katherine cracked. Her shoulders sagged and the fierce anger leaked out of her expression. "Very well."

Elena heard Damon release a breath beside her—he must have been holding it for the entire standoff.

Katherine turned around and reached up to cup Stefan's face in her hands. He met her gaze with a tender look and placed his own hands around her waist.

"Stefan, you are free to disregard any compulsion I put you under in the past." Katherine said. She swallowed. "If you fear me, then feel it."

For a few seconds, nothing happened, but then Stefan's eyes went wide and he staggered away from Katherine in fright.

* * *

BlackDove: Wow. I'm sorry it took us so long to update, but we've been really busy. Well…okay… I've been reading the _Fifty Shades _books and working on my own novel, but Taaroko has school and she was a chapter hog. :P

So, Feb isn't a good month for me... Year ago my ex-husband asked for a divorce, same month my dad died about twenty one years ago, yada yada. Please, please humor me and make an effort to leave a review if you've never left one before? I love it when I see them in my Hotmail box. Also, if you want to follow me on twitter, my screen name is anglcdmn1986

I tweet. A lot. About TVD, Buffy, the rabbits. I'll also chat with you. We're nearing 200 reviews (so dang close). I LOVE you guys for that. Reviews are motivation, y'know.

And by the way—HOLY HELL the 4x14 episode of TVD tonight! God, I loved seeing Katherine come back. XD

Taaroko: Speaking of my school, I've been accepted to at least one of the grad schools I applied to so far! Woot! And I'm definitely joining BlackDove in celebrating the return of Katherine in 4x14. Somehow she always manages to take us by surprise with her dramatic reappearances, doesn't she? Anyway, the chapter. I just never get tired of writing those dream sequences, and the idea of Elijah sitting there like a Bond villain totally cracks me up. But now we have a de-compelled Stefan to deal with. Dun-dun-dun.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter 16

"Stefan?" said Katherine. Elena was amazed to hear the desperate plea in her doppelgänger's voice.

"What have you done to me?" he said, retreating until he ran into the wall.

"Stefan, please," said Katherine, "I love you." She started to move closer to him.

"No," he said, shaking his head and edging along the wall away from her, "you're a demon. You stay away from me." He made a mad dash for the door, barreling into Damon and Elena on the way out.

"Damon, you have to talk to him," said Elena urgently. "He can't tell your father about us."

Damon nodded and, with a fleeting glance over at Katherine, turned and followed his brother.

Elena watched him go, and then faced Katherine again. She hadn't moved. "Katherine?" said Elena, taking a cautious step closer to her.

When Katherine faced her, her expression was murderous. "Haven't you done enough?" she said through gritted teeth.

"He'll come around," said Elena, "you just have to give him time."

"Yes, because his brother needed so much of that."

"You just have to show him how much you care about him, and that you wouldn't hurt him," said Elena.

"No," said Katherine, flashing forward and pinning Elena to the wall by the throat. "I won't listen to any more of your advice. You've caused me nothing but trouble ever since you arrived." Her grip was so tight that Elena felt her windpipe collapse under the pressure. It was agony, but she couldn't make a sound, and her attempts to free herself were fruitless. "I may not be able to kill you personally, but there are other ways to be rid of you, Elena _Gilbert_."

Katherine threw Elena into the opposite wall and disappeared from the room. The impact had dislocated Elena's left shoulder. She coughed and spluttered as her windpipe reflated, then clenched her teeth and used her right hand to shove her shoulder back into joint before running full-speed out of the mansion after Katherine. She had only been gone seconds, but that might well be all the head-start she needed.

—

Damon caught up to Stefan at the top of the stairs and had to wrestle him into the nearest bedroom, which happened to be his own. "Get off me!" Stefan shouted.

"Very well," said Damon, shoving Stefan away from him, causing him to lose his footing and fall in a heap on the floor. Damon took the opportunity while Stefan got back to his feet to shut the door behind them and plant himself firmly in front of it.

"What are you doing, Damon? We have to tell Father. She's a monster; she can't stay in this house."

"She's been in this house for six months, Stefan. If she were a real danger to us, she would have acted by now."

"She _has_ acted!" Stefan shouted. "She's been drinking my blood and playing with my mind!"

"I can't let you tell Father," said Damon. "If he finds out about Katherine, then he finds out about Elena."

"How can you defend Elena when you know what she is?"

"Because she's still Elena! She's still exactly the same woman I fell in love with," said Damon. He jabbed a forefinger hard into Stefan's chest. "She's the same woman who just persuaded Katherine to restore your free will."

"How do you know any of it is real?" said Stefan. "Don't you understand? We can't trust anything anymore, not even our own thoughts! She could have been playing with your mind this whole time!"

"Why would she fight for your freedom if she's taken mine? Elena isn't like that. She's _better_. She's made me better, and I think she's even made Katherine better. Please, little brother, don't do anything to put her in danger."

—

When Elena arrived at the edge of the Gilberts' property, she was relieved not to hear any screams, but they might start up any moment. Mrs. Gilbert had invited them both for a visit a few weeks ago, so getting inside the house wouldn't be a problem for Katherine. How had she found out Elena's ancestry? Had she been spying on her dreams again? This wouldn't be quite so dire if not for the fact that Emily hadn't made the Gilbert rings yet.

Elena was strongly reminded of her first night in 1864 as she crept up to the Gilbert home. Lights still shone from a few of the windows on the second floor, and it sounded like the inhabitants were all preparing for bed.

Just as she was about to start checking the doors to see if Katherine had already broken in, she had the creeping feeling of being watched. She turned around just in time to see Katherine charging towards her, fangs bared. The next second, she was flying through the air and collided hard with one of the large trees at the edge of the woods. She had barely picked herself up off the forest floor when Katherine was bearing down on her again.

"Katherine, you can't do this," she cried. "You might want to kill me now, but if you wipe out my ancestors, then Klaus won't be able to use human me to break his curse, and you'll be running from him forever!"

"The Gilberts aren't my descendants," said Katherine with disdain. "There will still be a doppelgänger if I kill them, she just won't be you."

Elena's insides went cold, but another argument came to her almost immediately. "Do you think you and the other vampires in town will be able to keep hiding if one of the founding families is slaughtered?" she asked. "I thought you wanted to stay here!"

Katherine looked more murderous than ever, but Elena's words did seem to have given her pause, so she decided to push a little harder. "Look, the Gilberts have nothing to do with this. If you want to take out your anger for Stefan's reaction on someone, take it out on me. I was the one who pushed you to decompel him anyway."

Katherine's eyes narrowed and her lip curled. "I accept." Faster than blinking, she tore a branch from the nearest tree and plunged the jagged end into Elena's stomach.

—

"How did we end up in this situation?" said Stefan, sinking onto the edge of his bed and burying his face in his hands.

"I have no idea," said Damon, leaning against the wall and folding his arms. "But there's no going back now. At least not for me."

Stefan lifted his head out of his hands and looked up at him. "You really do love her in spite of everything, don't you?"

"I do," said Damon. It was remarkable how peaceful he felt voicing that.

Silence fell between them for a long moment. Damon watched his brother, relieved that most of the fight seemed to have gone out of him.

"I won't tell Father," said Stefan eventually.

"Really?" said Damon.

"As long as Katherine stays out of my head, I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you."

—

A few minutes later, Damon felt confident enough in Stefan's mental and emotional stability to leave him alone. When he stepped into the hallway, he saw Katherine walking up the stairs. She looked rather more disheveled than she had before, and there were flecks of what looked like blood spotting her dress, arms, and face.

"Hello, Katherine," he said warily.

"Hello, Damon," she replied with the usual amount of haughtiness.

"Have…have you been out hunting?"

"Not exactly," she said, striding past him in the direction of her room.

"Where's Elena?" he asked. When she didn't answer, a surge of foreboding flooded his insides. Heedless of how reckless he was being, he rushed forward to block her from entering her room. "_Where's Elena_, Katherine?" he demanded.

She raised an eyebrow and considered him for a moment. He refused to break eye contact but couldn't help shrinking back slightly, wondering if this was what a rabbit felt like when cornered by a wolf.

The seconds ticked by until he was sure she was going to attack him again, but then she spoke. "I left her in the woods behind the Gilbert home," she said.

"What do you mean, you left her there?" he said, forgetting his fear for his own safety. "What did you do to her?"

"Perhaps you should hurry on over and see for yourself."

Damon knew he wouldn't get anything else out of her, and her eyes were now roving over him as though she was contemplating which limb she would break first if he didn't get out of her way, so he wasted no more time with her.

The Gilberts lived close enough to them that he didn't bother with saddling his horse, he just threw on the bridle and rode him out of the stables bareback. It was so dark with clouds hiding the moon that he had to go slower than he would have liked, but he knew the forest between the two properties well from all the days he'd spent exploring it as a boy.

When he saw the lights of the Gilbert home through the trees, he pulled on the reins to bring his horse to a stop and dismounted. "Elena?" he called. No response. He walked on, leading his horse behind him, calling her name every few seconds.

He was about to say it for the fifth time and beginning to truly fear for her fate when he nearly stumbled over something in the dark. He squinted at the shape lying at his feet, then immediately dropped to his knees. It was Elena.

The clouds above shifted enough that weak moonlight filtered down through the trees, illuminating the many dark stains on Elena's dress and the odd angle of her neck and right arm. "Dear God, how could she do this?" he breathed, fighting the urge to be ill. As carefully as he could, he slipped his arms under her knees and shoulders and stood up with her cradled against his chest, still holding the reins in one hand. Now he wished he'd taken the time to saddle his horse, but she wasn't heavy and they didn't have far to go.

—

Damon wouldn't risk bringing Elena through the main entrance of the house, so he went around the back after returning his horse to the stables. It was there that he saw Emily's son, Benjamin, emerging from the kitchen. The boy's eyes went wide when he saw Elena's limp form in Damon's arms.

"Could you please find your mother and tell her to come to Miss Elena's room?" Damon asked.

Still wide-eyed, Benjamin quickly nodded his head and dashed back into the house.

Damon followed the boy—who, in his haste, had left the door open—and quickly walked upstairs. To his relief, he didn't run into anyone else on the way to Elena's room, though he did see a faint light coming from under Katherine's door. He cast the door a dark glare before shaking his head and looking down at Elena, still unconscious in his arms.

He had barely shouldered his way into Elena's room and laid her down on the bed when Emily arrived. "What on earth happened?" she asked after taking one look at Elena's bloodied, battered form.

"Katherine," Damon said. "We confronted her about compelling Stefan, which she did, though she wasn't pleased about it. I went to calm Stefan down, and when I left him, I found Katherine. It would appear that she and Elena had some kind of fight over by the Gilbert home."

Tutting, Emily walked over to Elena and leaned close to examine her. "Not a fight so much as a beating," she said when she pulled back. "Katherine broke her neck."

"What?" said Damon in alarm.

"Don't worry yourself too much over it. She'll be fine. A broken neck isn't fatal to a vampire, though it is a nasty thing to heal from."

Damon let out a sigh of relief. "When do you think she'll wake?"

Emily's fists were clenched on her skirt. "I couldn't say, poor thing." She looked around at Damon. "You'd best be going back to your own room now; I need to get her out of these clothes and cleaned up."

"No, I'm staying," he said firmly. "I'm not leaving her side after what Katherine did to her."

Emily narrowed her eyes and folded her arms. He was sure she was about to argue when she said, "Fine. But if you're going to stay, then you're going to make yourself useful. I'll need clean cloths and a bucket of water."

Damon quickly did as he was told, marveling at the strangeness of taking orders from a maid. By the time he returned to the room with the things Emily had asked for, she'd gotten Elena out of her overdress, hoop skirt, and corset. She thanked him for the cloths and water, and then snapped at him to turn his back so she could remove the rest of Elena's clothes and clean her wounds.

By the time he was permitted to turn around again, Elena was dressed in a nightgown. With no traces of blood left on her skin, she looked like she could be sleeping. Damon felt overcome with gratitude to Emily for her help, but he didn't get a chance to express it before she spoke.

"Nothing left to do now until she comes to," she said, bundling up the bloody cloths and the bucket. "You should go back to your room, Mr. Salvatore."

"I told you already, I'm not leaving her side," he said stubbornly, sitting down on the edge of Elena's bed and running a finger over her delicate cheek. The soft light of the oil lamp on the bedside table illuminated her face, which was still a little paler than usual.

"If you insist, though your presence will not stop Miss Katherine if she wishes any further harm on her sister," said Emily. "However, I believe _I _can do something about that. It's time I had a word with Miss Katherine." There was a note of menace in the way she said it that made Damon think there would be few actual words involved. He felt a vicious pleasure at the idea of Emily unleashing her wrath on Katherine again.

"Oh, and Mr. Salvatore?" Emily added when she was almost at the door.

"Yes?"

"After sustaining such grievous injuries, Miss Elena is bound to be hungry when she wakes. You should be careful."

—

Elena woke with a gasp. For a moment, she didn't know where she was. The last thing she remembered was Katherine enthusiastically taking her up on her offer to be her new punching bag in lieu of killing off the entire Gilbert line, but now she was lying in a soft bed, so it seemed she was back in her room at the Salvatore mansion.

"Elena! Thank God, you're awake!"

"Damon?" she said, realizing that he was sitting beside her, watching her anxiously. She rubbed her still aching neck and sat up. "How did I get here?"

Damon moved closer, reaching up to smooth an errant strand of hair away from her face and leaning forward to press a kiss to her forehead. "I found you where Katherine left you in the woods. Emily assured me that you'd be fine, but still I worried. There were so many wounds, and…how's your neck?"

Elena was touched by his concern. "It's better," she said. "I feel fine." She demonstrated by pulling his head back to hers for a brief kiss. "Thank you for bringing me home." She smoothed the side of her thumb across his cheek.

"I didn't forget what we talked about earlier," he said, "that vampires can survive just about anything, but I don't think I truly believed it until now." His voice was strained with the force of his relief.

Elena smiled and kissed him again. She could feel all the tension leaking out of him as he kissed her back. It was slow at first, slow and sweet. Soon Elena began to get lost in his embrace. After the beating she'd just taken, she deserved to, didn't she?

The kiss was growing more passionate, and she gave into it. But it didn't last. Seemingly out of nowhere, hunger began to pull at her until it felt as if her stomach was trying to turn itself inside-out, and though the wounds Katherine had inflicted had all healed, she felt the phantom aches of every last one of them. Her senses were overwhelmed with the fact of warm blood pumping mere inches away. Before she could even try to fight it, her teeth sharpened into fangs and the skin of her cheeks prickled and heated up as the blood rushed into her eyes.

She pulled away from Damon abruptly, her hands at his shoulders. "We have to stop," she said, her chest heaving with her rapid breaths as she struggled to get a hold of herself. "I haven't fed yet, I don't think I can stay in control with you."

"There's a simple solution for that," he said.

She lifted her head to meet his eyes again, shocked. Surely he didn't mean…? Her eyes widened. He did. She shook her head. "You don't know what you're saying," she said.

"I know that I'd do anything for you," he argued. "You need blood, and I'm offering you mine."

"No, Damon, I could kill you."

"You didn't kill those people last night," he reminded her.

"It's different!" she protested. He had to stop talking like this. She didn't know if she could fight herself if she had to fight him too. If only she could make her fangs go away! No matter how hard she tried, they wouldn't budge. "You don't understand what this is like. When it's someone I don't know, it's harder to remember that they're more than just food, but there isn't any human attachment getting tangled up with the hunger and making it stronger, so I can still keep my head enough to stop when I need to."

"So you're saying that because you love me, you want my blood more than theirs?" he said, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"Seriously? _That's_ what you picked out from what I just said?" she cried, frustrated. Why did he have to be so insanely fearless all the time? Had he even _heard_ of self-preservation?

"It's true, though, isn't it?" he pressed, his gaze flickering back and forth between each of her eyes.

"Yes!" she burst out. "God, yes, I don't think I've ever wanted anything so much in my life as I want your blood right now!"

"Then take it!" he said, his voice rising to match hers. "You were just beaten half to death, Elena! I wanted to take care of you after I brought you back here, but Emily wouldn't let me. I want to repay Katherine every injury she dealt you, but I can't. _This_ is something I can do for you, and dammit, I mean to do it!"

They glared at each other for a few moments, but Elena knew she had lost. Eventually her gaze was drawn to his neck. Could they really do this? She was terrified that she would hurt him or worse, but she _had_ made it four months as a vampire, two in 2010 and two in 1864, without killing anyone by draining too much of their blood. She wasn't a ripper. She let out a long, slow breath. _She wasn't a ripper_.

"Okay," she said, looking into his eyes again for any trace of doubt, but he only nodded. She was more or less already in his lap from their earlier make-out session, but he pulled her closer until she was straddling him, causing her nightgown to ride up, exposing her calves and lower thighs. His pulse quickened, and Elena knew it had nothing to do with fear.

She pushed the collar of his shirt to the side, and his arms tensed a little around her waist. Hoping to ease them both into this, she merely pressed her lips to a spot just below his ear, then kissed her way slowly down to the place where his neck arched out to meet his shoulder, one hand on his bicep and the other tangling in his curly hair.

He breathed out her name and pulled her even closer, so that there wasn't any space left between them at all. It was the first time since the night of the pageant that she'd been this close to him, and it made her want to weep with joy. She kissed his neck once more before sinking her fangs into his skin as gently as she could. She heard him gasp and felt his fingers dig into her hips. His coppery blood hit her tongue and she moaned as it filled her mouth. This was definitely better than anything she'd ever tasted before.

Soon, the lingering aches from her injuries faded and she felt like she was bursting with energy. She'd become fairly adept lately at picking up on the warning signs that she was about to take too much, but this experience was so heavenly that she almost missed them as she swallowed mouthful after mouthful of his blood. However, at the first hint of his skin becoming cold and clammy and his heart rate speeding up, Elena's self-control was back. This was Damon, she remembered, but a soft whimper of reluctance still escaped her as she pulled away.

She had managed to make small enough wounds that the bleeding mostly stopped on its own as soon as there was no more suction drawing it out. She licked the spot clean, then leaned back enough to look at him. He was being so quiet, she had to make sure he was okay—but she barely had time to take in his pale face and slightly drooping eyelids before one of his hands slid up to her waist and the other moved to the back of her head as he hauled her to him for a searing kiss.

"Mmph!" she squeaked, pushing away and giggling, "No, not yet! I have to heal you first!"

"Oh, very well," he grumbled, pouting.

She grinned and shook her head, thinking how strange it was that only he seemed to be able to make this fun, whether he was her partner in crime like at that frat party or the one she was feeding off of. She hadn't forgotten her conversation with Emily that morning, but she had no intention of letting Damon die with her blood in his system, so there shouldn't be any danger of a paradox. Besides, the last thing she wanted to do right now was ask Katherine for some of her blood to heal him. Quickly, she slit her wrist open on a fang and held it out to him, and he promptly began to drink.

Much like he had when she first began to drink his blood, she couldn't stifle a soft shuddering gasp. Any lightheartedness between them died away as their gazes locked over her wrist. This was having the exact same effect on them as it had the night before, except that this time they were in her bed and she was in his lap, dressed only in a thin nightgown. She almost didn't wait until the cut on her wrist healed before eagerly resuming their kiss. Now that her bloodlust was no longer an immediate concern, she felt free to let their passion carry them as far as it would go.

So far, they'd only indulged in a few rather chaste kissing sessions and holding each other while they slept, but they had already left that territory far behind. Damon panted as Elena abandoned his lips to kiss her way along his jaw and back down to the spot on his neck where she'd bitten him, just to make sure the last traces of blood were gone. At the same time, her hands slipped down from around his neck and began to undo the buttons of his waistcoat.

"If you carry on like that, I'm not going to be able to stop," he groaned when she reached the last button and shoved the garment aside.

"What makes you so sure I want you to?" she said, trailing her kisses back up to his mouth and tugging his shirt free from his trousers so she could slip her hands underneath it to explore the skin of his torso.

He sat back and stared at her, hope and uncertainty warring on his features.

She met his gaze, wanting him to see that she had no doubts about this. "Make love to me, Damon," she said.

He hesitated for a fraction of a second before catching her face in both hands and tugging it back to meet his.

—

_Elena was standing in the middle of a clearing in the woods, dressed in a sky blue sundress and a pair of sandals. It was broad daylight, the air was crisp and fresh, and everything around her was in full bloom of spring. She smiled and closed her eyes, breathing it all in. But then a sound intruded. It was a heartbeat, but much faster than any human heartbeat she'd ever heard. She frowned and opened her eyes again. The owner of the heartbeat was a white rabbit with a tuft of gray fur between his ears. He was sitting back on his hind legs about ten feet away from her, his front paws pulled up close to his little body as he sniffed the air. _

_Elena put her hands on her hips. "Flopsy! There you are. You can't keep running off like this, I'm supposed to be watching you while Caroline and Tyler are on their trip."_

_Flopsy went back down on all fours and stared at her, his nose wiggling. _

_"Come here, boy," she cooed, kneeling down, but he only jumped skittishly back from her. "It's okay," she said, holding out a hand. "If only I had some treats for you. You probably think you are the treats, but don't worry, I don't eat bunnies."_

_Hesitantly, he hopped closer and sniffed her hand. "There, see?" she said, stroking his fuzzy cheek. "I'm nice." He blinked and rubbed his chin against her fingers in response, which made her laugh. She was just thinking that maybe he'd let her pick him up when he suddenly scampered off into the woods. _

_Elena groaned in frustration. "Caroline's gonna kill me," she said. But then, to her surprise, Flopsy hopped back into sight and stared at her again, before twitching his head in the direction he'd just run off. She frowned. _

_"What, do you want me to follow you?" she asked. He thumped one of his back feet, and then disappeared again. This time, she chased him. Following a rabbit in full dash wasn't easy, even with vamp speed. She nearly lost him twice, and was never quite able to keep him completely in sight. And then, he simply vanished. _

_"Ugh, come on!" she cried. She walked up to the spot she'd last seen him and was amazed to find a large pit there that she hadn't noticed before. It dropped some twenty feet into the ground. She couldn't see Flopsy down there, but she was sure she'd be able to find him again, so she jumped down. Her stomach lurched with the tug of gravity, and it seemed to take her a long time to reach the earthy floor of the pit, but she landed nimbly on her feet without even needing to use a hand to steady herself. _

_Then she saw the stone door with a pentagram carved into it and realized where she was. The door was ajar, and she guessed Flopsy had gone right inside the tomb. Silly thing. She hesitated at the entrance, but she remembered that Elijah had taken care of the seal for good, so she should be able to get out again. With that thought, she strode inside. _

_It was much less creepy in here now that she could see in the dark than it had been before. She walked the length of the main tunnel, then turned the corner and almost tripped over a prone figure lying there._

_"Seriously, Elena?" said Damon. "A bunny? That's all you brought for me?" Flopsy was sitting on his chest, twitching his ears._

_"Why are you dressed like that?" she said, her brow furrowing. _

_"What are you talking about?" he said, looking down at his waistcoat, shirtsleeves, breeches, and riding boots, all of which were a bit ragged and covered in a thick layer of dust. "This was all the rage the last time I was on the surface. I should probably get new ones, though." Flopsy sniffed at his waistcoat, sneezed, and ran his front paws vigorously over his face. _

_Elena folded her arms, unimpressed. "You're going to have to change if you want to escort me at the pageant."_

_"Well I won't be escorting anyone to any pageants if I never get anything stronger than rabbit in me," he said, annoyed. _

_She frowned, noticing for the first time the way his skin was gray and rather sunken. "How long have you been down here?" she said slowly. She hadn't wanted to ask, and she was suddenly desperately afraid of the answer._

_"A hundred and forty-five years, Elena."_

_"What?" she gasped, horrified. "No, no, that can't be." She felt like the tunnel was closing in on her, and she struggled to draw breath. "You were never down here, I met you on the road last year, and you've been living in the boarding house."_

_"No, Elena, I've been waiting for you. Why did you leave me down here? I thought we were going to be together."_

_"This isn't what happened," she said, shaking her head. "This can't be what happened." She turned and ran back up the tunnel. She was going to go to the boarding house and prove it. She could see daylight streaming in through the door at the end of the tunnel, and she sped up, but the tunnel only seemed to get longer and longer, the door forever out of reach._

—

BlackDove: I had this big long author's note written and decided to just delete it and say thank you for the reviews, and god, Katherine is a bitch, and the Oscars started putting me to sleep. I pretty much just stayed up to watch the stuff about Bond (thanks, ex-husband, for addicting me to those movies). I have to work an 8 hour dayshift in the morning. . But! Thanks for all the support, everyone!

Follow me on Twitter: anglcdmn1986

Taaroko: Another dream sequence! Hee. We were working with the whole _Alice in Wonderland_ theme, and then the idea of the rabbit leading her literally down a hole into the tomb to finally find Damon just kind of hit us. Also, yes, Katherine has some rage issues. I'm really enjoying everything with her and Stefan. And Elena and Damon, well, *blushes*. Yeah, I squirmed and avoided and pulled my hair a lot just for that PG-13 scene (I couldn't write smut even if I wanted to, which I really don't), so I hope you all liked it anyway.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Damon opened his eyes slowly and a smile spread over his features as memories of the previous night washed over him. In the end, neither he nor Elena had gotten much sleep. He looked to his side. Sometime during the night, Elena had moved away from him. She faced away from him, sprawled across the other half of the bed. His smile widened and he slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her close so that her back was flush against his chest. He leaned in to press a kiss to her temple.

"Mmm…" Elena snuggled against him. "Stupid bunnies."

Damon's brow furrowed. He propped himself up on his elbow. "Are you awake?"

Elena didn't respond for a moment, but then she opened her eyes and turned to look at him with a smile. "I am." She reached up to kiss him.

Damon responded eagerly for a moment, but then pulled away. "Elena," he said reluctantly, "I have to go soon."

She pouted and ran her fingers and down his arm. "Surely you can stay a little longer."

"Father wanted me to get to work early today. He might come looking for me if I don't meet him soon."

Elena sighed. "Emily will probably be up here in a minute to help me get ready for the day. We're going into town."

"Very well," he said, smoothing a hand through her hair and leaning down to kiss her again. Their self-control vanished, and they kept kissing until he had to come up for air.

"Damon," Elena panted, "if you don't stop kissing me, neither of us will be going anywhere."

He grinned mischievously. "It would almost be worth the trouble."

Elena gasped and slapped his shoulder. "I love you. Now, get out of my room."

—

Elena braced herself against the wardrobe as Emily pulled the top laces of her corset up, and then tugged tightly on the middle.

"How does that feel?"

"It's fine," Elena said. She frowned and put a hand to her stomach. "Have you been making it tighter?"

"You seemed to be doing better with the corset lately, so I've taken it in about half an inch."

Elena took an experimental breath. It felt fine. "I guess I'll have to take my dresses back to Mrs. Donovan soon. She'll be happy to see my waist looking more 'fashionable'."

"Is something wrong?" Emily asked.

"Huh?" Elena said. "No, nothing's wrong…"

"You're frowning. I should hope after spending a night with Damon, you wouldn't—"

Elena went red. So much for discretion. Apparently Emily knew exactly what she and Damon had been up to last night. "No, everything is fine with Damon."

"Good," said Emily, nodding. "I can see you feel the same way about him that he does about you, and I'm glad. It never sat right with me the way Katherine toyed with his affections, no matter what debt I owe her." She watched Elena's face in the full-length mirror beside the wardrobe. "If that's not what troubles you, child, then what is?"

"It's just—I keep having these dreams," said Elena. "Ever since I got here. There's always a rabbit in them, for some reason. Very _Alice in Wonderland_." She caught sight of Emily's confused expression and grimaced. "Sorry. Way too early for that reference. Anyway, until last night, Damon hasn't been in any of my dreams, even when I was looking everywhere for him."

"And last night you found him?"

Elena nodded. "It wasn't exactly ideal circumstances, in the dream, I mean, but yeah. Do you think it means something?"

"Dreams can mean many things," Emily said. "But most often they're only a manifestation of what troubles our minds. I very much doubt that yours could be a portent of anything. After all," she raised an eyebrow, "you aren't a witch." Elena wasn't at all satisfied with this answer, and it must have shown on her face, for Emily went on, "But tell me more about these dreams."

So Elena did. She told her everything, her best accounts of what happened in the dreams, from Caroline scolding Stefan for trying to feed Flopsy to Elena to Rose telling Stefan that Katherine was waiting for him to ask her to the Founder's Ball to watching all of her friends dancing in Civil War era clothes. When she got to the part about talking to Elijah, she stopped, her frown deepening.

"What is it?" said Emily.

"Elijah told me that I'd only find Damon if the sire bond was broken," said Elena. She looked up sharply at Emily's reflection. "Is that it?" she said eagerly. "Is that what happened? Did I break it somehow between that dream and last night's?" She spun around to face Emily. "The last time I saw Damon in the present, he told me to go home, to stay away from him. Maybe that's why I couldn't find him in my dreams, just like Elijah said!"

Emily regarded her with a deep, penetrating look. "Perhaps I can find out," she said. She raised her hands to the sides of Elena's head and closed her eyes. A strange tingling sensation swept through Elena's head, as if she'd stood up too fast, and the short hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

Emily opened her eyes. "You fed off him last night," she said.

Elena blushed again. "Yes," she said, looking down.

"That wasn't a chastisement, dear, it was your answer."

"What do you mean?" said Elena.

Emily shook her head, her hands dropping back to her sides. "I'm afraid I don't know. That's all I saw."

"Damon's blood made me a vampire," said Elena slowly. "What if drinking his blood as a human kind of shorted out the sire bond? Like a loophole?" She was picking up speed as her excitement grew, not even noticing Emily's bewilderment at yet more modernisms in her speech. "I mean, this can't have ever happened before. I must be the first vampire to meet the human version of the vampire that turned me. No wonder nobody knew there was a way to break a sire bond." She snorted. "A better one than being apart forever, at least."

As much as she still hated the idea of leaving human Damon behind to return to the present, she suddenly felt a fierce desire to be back home as soon as possible. If she was right, then the sire bond was really broken, but her feelings for Damon hadn't changed in the slightest. She wanted nothing more to find Damon in the present and tackle-hug him to the ground and never let him go again.

—

"Emily," Katherine hissed.

"What?" said Emily innocently.

"Stop this. You've made your point. I can hardly walk properly with you—"

Elena watched the two women argue with each other as she walked quietly behind them. Emily might not look it, but she was clearly still livid about Katherine's behavior the night before, and she'd been doing the witchy brain whammy thing on her all morning. Katherine seemed to blame Elena for this, because she kept shooting her dirty looks, to which Emily responded with yet more brain whammy. As they approached Pearl's apothecary, however, she finally relented.

"_Thank you_," Katherine groaned.

Emily said nothing as she followed her into the shop, Elena bringing up the rear.

"Katherine!" Pearl's voice trilled in delight.

"Good morning, Pearl. I've come for some of that new elixir," Katherine said. "Vervain, I think it was called?"

Elena's eyes widened.

"Yes, of course," said Pearl.

Just then, the bell over the door tinkled again and Margaret Gilbert walked inside.

"Miss Peirce, Miss Elena," she said, smiling.

"Hello, Mrs. Gilbert," said Elena. "It's good to see you again."

Meanwhile, Katherine closed her eyes and put one of her hands to her head, shooting an angry glare at Emily. Elena wondered, then, if Emily knew about Katherine's plan to kill the Gilberts as a way of getting rid of her.

"Katherine, are you ill?" Pearl asked.

"I'm perfectly well," said Katherine, putting on a very forced smile. "I just have a bit of a headache. Perhaps you have something to remedy that as well."

"Of course," said Pearl. "Let me see what I can find." She curtseyed and went behind the counter to rummage through her shelves.

"You'll have to excuse Katherine," said Elena to Margaret. "This headache has been bothering her all morning." It was difficult to maintain an appropriately concerned expression, when she really just felt like giggling.

"Oh, dear," Margaret said. "Well, nothing works better for my headaches than peppermint tea. Perhaps you could try that, Miss Pierce."

"I do have some in stock," said Pearl, holding up a small box.

"Thank you, Pearl," said Katherine.

"I'll just wrap everything up for you," said Pearl. "One moment, Mrs. Gilbert."

"How have you been?" Elena asked Margaret.

"Quite well, thank you," Margaret said. "And you, Miss Elena? I heard Damon Salvatore asked to court you."

Elena realized with a little embarrassment that she must have had the largest, stupidest grin on her face, because Margaret's eyes widened in delight. "He did," she said. "Are you planning to come to the next knitting group? Katherine and I will be hosting it this time, at the Salvatores'."

While chatting with Margaret, she kept part of her attention focused on Katherine and Pearl, who were discussing the vervain too quietly for Margaret to hear. Pearl was giving Katherine two bottles: one containing actual vervain and one decoy they could use to fool any overly nosy humans.

"Of course I will be," Margaret said. "I look forward to it. It's been quite a long time since we met at the Salvatores'."

Elena smiled. "I asked Damon about it the other day, and he said it would be fine. And it'll be just us ladies. Damon will be slaving away over some paperwork for his father, who will be away on business for the next few weeks. I'm sure Stefan will be keen to stay out of our way too."

Once Katherine had made her purchase, she, Elena, and Emily said their goodbyes to Pearl and Margaret and left the shop. As they went about the rest of their errands, they ran into several other women in their knitting group. By the time they climbed back into the carriage to head home, they felt confident that word had gotten around to everyone about the time and location of the next meeting.

Katherine looked positively ragged from Emily's constant headaches as they reached the mansion. Elena was actually starting to feel bad for her.

Almost as soon as they crossed the threshold, Emily's eldest daughter, Tara, came running towards them, a very upset Addy clutched in her arms. "Momma!" she called, "I can't get Addy to stop fussing, and she made such a ruckus in the kitchens!"

Emily frowned and took the squalling two-year-old from Tara's arms. Addy's screaming subsided into whimpers and she snuggled her head into Emily's shoulder. Emily turned to look at Katherine and Elena.

"You're dismissed, Emily," said Katherine. "Please, go take care of your children." Emily immediately did as she suggested, taking Tara by the hand and leading her off towards the kitchens, scolding her mildly about managing her little sister. As soon as they were out of sight, Katherine's shoulders sagged with relief.

"I have an idea," Elena said.

Katherine looked at her warily. "I really don't want to speak to you right now."

"Hear me out," Elena said. "We should take that vervain, grab some of Damon's bourbon, and have a few shots."

"You're not actually suggesting we _drink_ the vervain?" said Katherine incredulously. "I know you haven't been a vampire long, but surely you know—"

"Of course I do," said Elena. "But if the town is suspicious enough to stock Pearl's apothecary with the stuff, then wouldn't it be better if we started building a tolerance to it so they can't catch us by surprise with it?"

Katherine frowned, then raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "Fair point." She looked at Elena sharply. "But why would you want to spend time with me after what I did to you?"

"It's not that I enjoyed having the crap beaten out of me and my neck broken," said Elena, "but I'm fine now, and anyway, I think Emily more than made up for it with her little headaches, and I feel kinda bad about that. So, I'm willing to forgive and forget if you are. Besides, what's a little staking and neck breaking between frenemies?"

"Between what?" said Katherine.

"Frenemies," Elena repeated. "Not quite friends, not quite enemies, but kinda both. It's what we are, isn't it? You want to kill me sometimes, but most of the time we can get along pretty well. There's the stuff like last night, but there's also the way you've let me pose as your sister and helped me figure out how to be Civil War Era Girl. You've almost become like a real sister, even though sometimes I wouldn't mind—" She stopped herself, not wanting to say too much and ruin this reluctant truce. "It's just what we are."

Katherine still looked a little puzzled, but then she shook her head and pushed a stray curl from her face. "I suppose so. Lead the way to the bourbon, then."

—

"Will you help me get out of my corset and hoop skirt?" Elena asked as soon as they reached their designated drinking spot in the attic. While Katherine had grabbed two glasses from the kitchen, Elena had raided Damon's wardrobe again and brought up one bottle for each of them, only slightly worried about his reaction when he found out. It _had_ been a graduation gift, but she was sure she'd be able to make it up to him somehow. The thought had her blushing.

Katherine noticed and smirked. "You're thinking of Damon, aren't you?" she asked as she walked behind Elena.

"I might be," Elena hedged. Katherine made quick work of taking off the over dress, loosening the corset, and helping Elena get out of her hoop skirt. Elena then turned and began to help Katherine do the same.

"Don't be coy," Katherine said. "It was difficult to sleep last night, the noises coming from your room."

Elena was pretty sure she was the color of a tomato now. She quickly finished helping Katherine out of her hoop skirt and poured herself her first glass. "How does Giuseppe never notice his boys are so…uh, close to us?" she said.

"One of the first things I did when I came here was to compel him to turn a deaf ear to any sounds coming from those bedrooms. I did the same to Stefan when I was with Damon, but as you're with Damon now, I didn't bother to do it to him when I moved on to Stefan."

"Oh," Elena said. "Do you have the vervain?" That made a lot of sense, actually, now that Elena thought about it. Was Katherine ever going to stop compelling people? Though it was probably a good thing in Giuseppe's case, so Elena decided to let it go.

Katherine produced the bottle from Pearl's shop and offered it to Elena. "After you," she said dryly.

Elena grimaced and carefully tipped one drop of the vervain into her glass, then hesitantly took a sip. The bourbon would've burned a little going down anyway, but now it was like the inside of her mouth and her entire esophagus were melting. She clutched her throat and coughed and spluttered for a moment, but then the pain eased and she sat up straight again.

"Have you ever been exposed to vervain?" Katherine asked.

"Nope," Elena said in a raspy voice. "And if that was just from one drop, I can't imagine what it's like when someone really hits you with it."

"Here's to you never having to find out," said Katherine, raising Elena's glass and drinking a large mouthful from it. She had the same initial reaction to the vervain, but recovered more quickly.

Elena took the glass back and forced herself to do it all over again. By the time she and Katherine had drunk and recovered from three mouthfuls each, the glass was empty. "This is definitely going to take a while," Elena coughed. "I guess it's a good thing you have your decoy vervain too. We can keep the townspeople's suspicions down long enough to get used to the real stuff."

"We'll work on that more later," said Katherine, pouring generous measures of bourbon into both glasses and tucking the vial of vervain back into her little purse. Elena gratefully clinked glasses with her and downed the second glass without a wince. Her head was already starting to swim. It seemed vervain lowered her alcohol tolerance.

"I know I'm messing up all your original plans for Damon and Stefan by being here, but I'm proud of you for undoing your compulsion on Stefan."

Katherine emptied her own glass. "He hates me now," she said, looking down. "I ran into him this morning before breakfast and he couldn't even look at me."

Elena reached out and took Katherine's hand in hers, causing Katherine to look up at her in surprise. "I know, Katherine. It's bad now, but I really do think he'll come around. Whatever you compelled him to do, his love for you is real. The Stefan from my time never believed that, but you never made things right in his past, and he never had a chance to come to terms with it. This time around, it's different."

Katherine sagged back against a large, dusty box and sighed. "I surely hope so," she said. "Up until now, I've always been careful about the men I let myself get involved with. Especially…especially after I got pregnant." She snorted. "Well, unless you count the time I spent in England when I got involved with Klaus and Elijah. I suppose I should have learned something about getting involved with a pair of brothers from that."

"Klaus has done a lot to hurt both of us," Elena said, thinking of Isobel and Jenna and all the times he'd tried to drain her blood—not to mention the time he'd actually succeeded. "But, on the up side, your daughter obviously survived. Otherwise I wouldn't be here."

Katherine grew very quiet and pensive at this. Then, without warning, she dove at Elena and pulled her into a rib-cracking hug, making her shriek in surprise.

"Oh, Elena, I'm glad you're here—well, not exactly, because you _have_ thrown my plans completely off—but you're right! My daughter must have lived a good life if she lived long enough to have a family of her own, otherwise you would have never been here in the first place." Katherine released Elena, but still looked at her with uncharacteristic earnestness. "I'm sor—I shouldn't have tried to kill the Gilberts."

Elena shrugged and took another drink. "It's like I said. What's a little staking and neck breaking between frenemies?"

Katherine paused for a moment. "Sisters."

Elena smiled at her. "I feel bad…that I don't know how long I'm going to be here. Damon told me he wants to marry me."

This time, Katherine was the one who grabbed her hand. "You can't think that way. Just make the most of the time you're here. I'm sure you'll be able to make it up to the Damon of your time."

Elena nodded silently and sighed. "Funny thing is, I'd marry him regardless—whether he's human or a vampire."

For a few moments, they sat in silence. Elena's thoughts drifted back to her conversation with Emily that morning. "Katherine?" she said.

"Hmm?"

"What do you know about sire bonds?"

Katherine shifted where she sat, looking uncomfortable. "I know they're not as rare as most vampires tend to believe. You're sired to Damon in the future, aren't you?"

"I am," Elena said. "Or I was. That's what I've been wondering about. The sire bond hasn't worked here, I guess because Damon's still human, so it doesn't recognize him. What do you think would happen if a vampire met her sire when he was human and…um, drank his blood? Do you think that could break the sire bond?"

"It might," said Katherine, sounding intrigued. "But that would just be speculation, wouldn't it? It's not as if there's any precedent."

"I guess I'll have to just wait until I go back home and then see if I can ignore Damon's commands."

Katherine took a swig directly from the bottle, having emptied her glass. "I'm not surprised you ended up sired to Damon. I could see from almost the first moment I saw you two together how much you love him." She took another swig. "Eric loved me just as much."

Elena looked at her in surprise. "Eric?"

Katherine poured Elena another drink. "Two hundred years after I turned into a vampire, I met a man named Eric. He fell in love with me almost instantly. He was gallant, noble, but I wasn't as inclined to have feelings for him. I was still running, but after two centuries of it you start to get lonely."

Elena listened to Katherine in fascination. "What happened?"

"I decided it wouldn't be so terrible to have some companionship, so I turned him. As a vampire, he did everything I told him to without question. It didn't take long to work out that it was a sire bond. I'd heard of them before, but I didn't know anything about how to put an end to it."

"I would've thought you'd enjoy having someone at your beck and call like that," said Elena without thinking.

"I like a little more challenge than that," said Katherine wryly.

"Damon…," said Elena vaguely, "he told me that the only way to break it was for him to tell me to stop loving him, that that would make him happy, and for me to forget him and never think about him again. I begged him not to, tried to prove my feelings for him are real. And in the end, he didn't do it. He sent me away, but not forever. I think he's holding out hope that there's another way around it." She nodded sagely at her glass and drained its contents.

"Klaus nearly caught up to me, you know," said Katherine. "It was Eric who saved my life. He took a stake to the heart for me, bought me the time I needed to get away." Her brow furrowed. "I didn't even tell him to."

"Katherine…"

She waved off Elena's sympathy. "Don't feel sorry for him. Given the chance, he'd have done it again exactly the same way."

"I wonder if we need to worry about Stefan becoming sired to you," said Elena. "He wasn't before, but some things are changing. You know, I'm starting to think Emily only wants the life and death stuff to stay the same. The details aren't as fixed."

"A sire bond isn't a detail," Katherine said. "Probably won't change. Besides, those are founded on love, and I don't expect I'll be getting that back from him anytime soon."

"You just need to give him some time."

Katherine shook her head. "He was so afraid of me…"

"Hey, isn't his birthday coming up soon?" said Elena. "He'll be turning seventeen." She giggled at the idea of Stefan having a birthday that actually meant something to his physical age, but then it turned into a pout when she remembered it would be his last one of those. Sad. And Damon's last had been in the summer before she got here. It was a moment before she remembered where she was going with the birthday subject. "Oh! His birthday! Maybe you could make it up to him then?"

Katherine snorted. "Assuming Damon lets me near him."

"Leave Damon to me," said Elena, waving a finger at Katherine. "I'm very good at dissr—distracting him. Did you get Stefan anything for his birthday?"

Katherine nodded. "I had a tin-type made for him at the fall festival."

"Tin type?"

"A photograph of myself."

Elena frowned. That must have been the photo she'd found in Stefan's room in the boarding house. Weird. She giggled again. "As presents go, that's a little conceited, don't you think? 'Specially when you're supposed to be groveling."

Katherine looked affronted. "How do you mean?"

"Well, don't you have anything more meaningful you can give him? I mean, a birthday present is supposed to be about him, not about you. Compelled Stefan might have loved it, but you're gonna have to make a serious effort to get him to trust you again."

Elena reached for the bottle and sloshed some more into her glass. She had barely set it back down when Katherine snatched it up and downed the rest of its contents.

"You really should listen to me on this," said Elena. "I dated Stefan longer than you have so far."

Katherine leveled a glare at her that was made slightly less threatening than it could have been by the way her eyes were a tad unfocused. Elena only laughed, which turned Katherine's expression sulky. "You have no idea how weird it is for me to be giving you dating advice about Stefan. A few months ago…uh, a hundred and forty-five years from now, I wanted you as far away from him as possible. But maybe he wouldn't be all miserable self-loathing guy with you, and he might even turn you nicer. Besides, better you than freaking Rebekah."

"Who the hell is Rebekah?" Katherine said sharply.

"Ah-ah-ah. No spoilers. You'll find out eventually."

Katherine glared again, but Elena merely raised her glass to her lips, ignoring her.

"Elena?"

Elena sprayed her mouthful of bourbon everywhere at the sound of Damon's voice. "Ack! Hide the bourbon."

It didn't occur to her that it didn't matter if they hid the bourbon—it would be very obvious to Damon that they had been drinking. Katherine just looked at her and laughed, then cupped her hands around her mouth. "Oh, Damon," she sang out, "your lovely Elena has been at your bourbon again."

Elena tried to tackle Katherine and clamp a hand over her mouth, but the damage was done. A few seconds later, Damon appeared at the top of the attic stairs and gaped at them. "What are you doing up here?"

"Um…re-bonding after a bad fight?" Elena said with a wide, unconvincing smile. They were so busted.

"Did it have to be with my bourbon again?" Damon griped.

Katherine stood, stumbling slightly. "I'm afraid I'm quite tired," she said. "This was a wonderful idea, Elena, but I need to go lie down now."

Elena sighed as she watched Damon and Katherine skirt around each other awkwardly. Damon seemed as if he wanted to say something to her doppelgänger, but he didn't.

"Um. So. I'm sorry I took your bourbon—again—but we really needed it." She reached for his hands and tugged gently on them. "Come have a seat with me?"

Damon frowned as he sat down. "You and Katherine mended your fences rather quickly," he observed.

Elena scooted closer to him and planted a sloppy, drunken kiss on his lips. "She's my sister. She might not always make the right choices, but she's blood. I can't stay mad at her, no matter how many times we disagree over something."

"I suppose I know how that goes," said Damon reluctantly.

Elena smiled. "Have a drink with me?"

—

In the few days that led up to the day of the knitting group, Elena and Damon dropped any pretense that they weren't spending their nights together, opting to make the most of Giuseppe's absence even if Katherine teased them ruthlessly for it and Emily rolled her eyes and pursed her lips whenever she saw one of them. When the day of the knitting group arrived, Elena reluctantly left Damon's room much earlier than she would have liked—there was simply too much to do to prepare.

She was sitting down in the parlor with Katherine while women of Mystic Falls started to file in. Katherine was working with a spool of grey silk on a pair of delicate gloves. Elena had grown much more adept at knitting in the last month, and Katherine had started teaching her how to read patterns. She currently had Elena working on a shawl—she couldn't knit simple things like scarves forever, Katherine had explained, because they wanted their knitting group to think this was something both girls did on a regular basis.

The shawl was frustrating, but Elena was doing a good job on it. She wished she'd chosen a color besides blue. It looked lovely, but she'd had to defend her choice to Katherine, who suggested with a smirk that it matched Damon's eyes.

"My, I thought we were never going to have a meeting here," Lucy Fell said as she walked into the parlor as she walked in with Mrs. Fell.

"Do make yourself comfortable," Elena said with a somewhat tight smile. She remembered Lucy's snide comment about Damon at the last knitting group. For Lucy's sake, she hoped there wouldn't be any recaps of that today.

"Don't mind if I do," Lucy said as she made herself comfortable in a chair next to the fire place.

Soon, the Forbes women arrived, followed by Margaret Gilbert, Nancy White, Mrs. Lockwood and Carol Robinson. Elena watched the women as they all sat down and started to pull various projects out. She noticed how the married women were sitting more together this time, leaving the younger girls to group around Katherine and herself.

"I know we saw each other a few days ago, but how have the two of you been?" Margaret said after everyone was settled in. She had a set of squares she sat down next to her on the floor.

"Oh, we're doing quite well," Katherine said. When she didn't elaborate, an awkward silence descended, punctuated by the click of knitting needles, but Sarah Fell quickly broke it.

"How has it been sleeping in the room next to the elder Salvatore brother, Miss Elena?"

Lucy giggled next to her and Mrs. Fell immediately shot a warning glance at her daughters.

"Damon is wonderful," Elena said, just a little more loudly than was necessary. She turned red and looked down at her knitting project. If she lost her concentration, she'd have to take the entire thing apart.

"Lately they've been speaking of marriage," Katherine said.

"Katherine!" Elena gasped, mortified, as every single woman in the sitting room immediately began to gossip and titter. She probably should have seen that coming after what Katherine had done at the last knitting group.

"It would appear that living next to him _did _prove to work in your favor," Lucy snickered, setting Sarah off in a fit of giggles.

Mrs. Fell set her project aside and stood up. She was rather tall, so it was an intimidating move. "_Girls_," she said, "I shouldn't have to remind you that we are Miss Pierce and Miss Elena's guests, and you _will_ keep civil tongues in company."

Both girls turned bright red and said, "Yes, Mother," in quiet voices.

"Miss Elena, dear," said Mrs. Fell, turning to face her with a smile, "would you like to come and sit next to Margaret and me?"

Elena looked up at Mrs. Fell in alarm, and shot Katherine a brief glare as she stood and followed the older woman over to the indicated seat. She'd have to have a conversation with her sister about keeping her mouth shut. Judging form Katherine's expression, though, she might already be getting her comeuppance. It seemed she didn't at all appreciate being left to join the gossip of the younger girls.

"If marriage truly is on the horizon for you, then there are a few things you should know," said Mrs. Fell.

Elena's eyes went wide. Oh _God_.

"Oh, you poor thing, I don't suppose your mother ever had a chance to talk wedding nights with you," said Mrs. Forbes in concern.

"Well, Damon hasn't proposed to me yet," Elena said hastily, hoping to fend them off. Why was it that now that it was actually possible for her to disappear in the blink of an eye, she wasn't allowed to? "We've only mentioned marriage i-in passing, really. I don't think either of us is ready yet."

"Just because you're nervous doesn't mean he is," Nancy White sniffed. She looked to be barely in her twenties, at the oldest. Elena thought she remembered hearing something about Nancy being pregnant, but she looked like she was still wearing the same style of corset as anyone else, which was just mind-boggling to Elena. "It'd be romantic if he didn't want to wait."

Mrs. Forbes rolled her eyes. "Just because Mr. White couldn't keep his hands off _you_ doesn't mean Mr. Salvatore and Miss Elena shouldn't have a proper two year engagement."

Nancy rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to those old crows," she said, reaching forward to pat Elena on the knee. "In fact, with your room arrangements as they are, it would probably be best all around if you just got married as quickly as possible. Better to be his wife than a mere guest in his house, I should think. Particularly if his intentions aren't as honorable as you'd like to believe."

"Damon is a gentleman," Elena said through clenched teeth. The idea that Damon would use false pretenses to take advantage of her was infuriating.

"High praise for a deser—" began Mrs. Lockwood in a condescending tone, but Elena cut across her.

"He recently began working for his father, you know," she said to the group at large, refusing to look at Mrs. Lockwood.

"Nancy, Marie," Margaret admonished gently. "You're worrying the poor girl needlessly." Elena shot her a grateful smile.

"I hardly think it's needless," said Nancy. "All that pain and the bloody sheets? No, no, Margaret, it's far better to be prepared than to go into it all blind."

Mrs. Lockwood chuckled nastily. "Nancy, dear, save your talk about pain until after you've delivered your baby."

Elena wanted to roll her eyes. So much for the women in this era always being polite. She amused herself briefly by imagining how they would all react if she told them exactly what she and Damon had been doing for the last few nights, and how often she had been the one initiating it. She'd probably be able to get at least half of them to faint from shock.

Margaret put her hand over Elena's in a protective gesture. "Just ignore them," she said.

"I'd bet dollars to dimes that he won't be able to keep his hands off you," said Nancy. "You'll end up pregnant by the end of your honeymoon, just like I did."

"But that's no reason to fret," Mrs. Lockwood said with a bitter tone. "No doubt he'll give you a break occasionally by taking up with one of the slaves."

Elena's mouth fell open in shock. What the hell?

"_Marie!_" Mrs. Forbes gasped. "Good gracious, we aren't discussing _your_ husband, are we?" She picked up her knitting and started to work in an agitated manner.

"What," sneered Mrs. Lockwood, "Why should Mr. Salvatore be any better than my Benjamin? With no motherly influence in this house since Sofia passed when he was a boy, and a father who dallies with a white maid?"

"Those were just rumors, Marie," said Mrs. Fell.

"Then why did he dismiss her and ship her off to another town?"

Elena had had enough of this. "With all due respect, Mrs. Lockwood, even though I absolutely do trust Damon to be faithful to me, I don't plan on leaving him with the spare time or energy to so much as consider 'taking up' with anyone else."

There was a loud strangled coughing sound from the other side of the room. Elena knew Katherine had been listening in, and now she must be attempting to cover her laughter. One of the other girls was now thumping her vigorously on the back. Meanwhile, on the married women's side of the room, Mrs. Forbes, Mrs. Fell, and Margaret were all staring at their laps with red faces, Nancy White was grinning shamelessly, and Mrs. Lockwood was looking like she had been slapped in the face. Elena calmly resumed knitting.

Mrs. Forbes was the first to recover. "Elena, dear," she said, "you know the sorts of household duties you'll be expected to take on as a married woman, don't you? I'm sure your mother would have taught you and your sister."

"O-of course," Elena stammered, trying to remember any details about that stuff from the few nineteenth century novels she'd read. Why exactly had she been looking forward to hosting the knitting group here, again?

—

Taaroko: Ah, rude 19th century ladies. They seem to be an indispensable staple of period fiction as written by modern writers. *snicker* At least Elena can hold her own, eh? Also, I have to say, I was pretty amused by some of your guesses about the dreams in the reviews for the last chapter. Evidently we were sneakier than we thought, but hopefully Elena's chats with Emily and Katherine will have cleared that up for everyone. I hope everyone enjoyed Katherine and Elena's drunken bonding. That stuff never gets old.

BlackDove: I don't want to brag.

Okay—I'm bragging. I wrote the first draft, and that's how it became so long. Taaroko is sleeping right now (I woke up super early because I realized The Sims 3 University was ready to download, so now at 5am I'm going to be playing til it's time to work) but she's an incredible editor on my half of this story. Actually, I do believe she has her first editing job. *EXTREMELY proud* I'm working on the AU/AH story I started (a Delena, but I don't want to commit to posting anything else til All This Time is done being posted, and actually took the story down) and a new Sims expansion was just released…

Yeah. Just want to warn you—next chapter might take a bit longer to post.

So. I actually am in a knitting group, if none of you knew that. It's with an incredible group of girls. We're classy. It's when the class drops and we're just comfortable with each other that the BEST conversations happen, and that was what the knitting scene turned into. I am working on a blanket I'll post a link to when it's finished if you guys want. :) Or you can follow me on twitter: anglcdmn1986

Oh! I did actual research on knitting patterns from the 1800's. I totally don't want to try them (HAHAHAHA—I should not let myself wake up before 6am). This is what Elena and Katherine were working on:

www . all free crafts knitting / vintage / victorian-shawl . shtml

www . victorian-embroidery-and-crafts fancy_mittens .html (NUMBERSIGN) top

So, thanks for the reviews! Some of your responses to the dreams made me giggle too. I'm gonna shut up in this author's note now and go play Sims 3.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Sorry this one took so long, guys. It was a perfect storm of Writer's Block and lots of real life craziness.**

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

Lunch was only two hours away, but after a particularly dull and seemingly never-ending stack of paperwork relating to the Salvatore lumber interests, Damon was starving and in desperate need of a break. As much as he felt he deserved a snack, however, he still approached the kitchen with extreme caution. Jess, the cook, was very territorial, and she had never quite forgiven him and Stefan for the time nearly ten years ago when they'd chased a raccoon from the woodpile into her domain while she was putting the finishing touches on an elaborate dinner. By the time they had managed to trap the raccoon beneath a milk pail (which had _not_ been empty at the beginning of the adventure), the kitchen had looked like it'd been ransacked, all Jess's hard work splattered on the walls and floors. Both brothers had been banned from that part of the house ever since.

Damon pressed his ear to the kitchen door and listened hard. When he couldn't hear any music coming from inside—Jess was always humming, whistling, or singing something while she worked—, he felt it was safe to enter, and pushed the door open. He glanced over his shoulder as he stepped over the threshold just to make sure Jess wasn't coming down the hall, but when he faced forward again, he froze in his tracks.

The kitchen was not empty after all. Damon's mouth fell open in astonishment. Katherine was standing there, a few of the perfectly arranged curls from when he'd seen her at breakfast tumbling down around her face, her dress hidden beneath a shapeless white apron, her olive skin covered in flour, and her arms elbow deep in an enormous wooden mixing bowl.

"What are you doing?" he asked when he found his voice.

Katherine was so absorbed in her task that she jumped at the sound of his voice. "Damon!" she cried, her eyes wide. She looked just as trapped and guilty as he did on the occasions when Jess had caught him stealing cookies. "I—I'm, um…," she stammered, looking down at the counter between them, which was littered with eggshells and fragments of baker's chocolate.

Something smelled absolutely heavenly, and Damon quickly traced it to a saucepan sitting on the wood-burning stove. He investigated more closely and realized that Katherine was melting the chocolate in it. "You're making a cake?" he said, turning to face her again.

Katherine merely went back to stirring, avoiding his gaze, but he could see pink patches appearing on her cheeks underneath the flour. "You are!" he cackled gleefully. "I never would've believed it!"

Quick as a flash, she was around the counter and standing right in front of him. "Don't you _dare_ breathe a word about this to Stefan," she snarled, fangs out and blood-red eyes underscored with pulsing veins.

"Katherine," he drawled, "that would be much more intimidating if you weren't covered in flour."

She glowered at him, her features slowly going back to normal. After flashing her a grin, he skirted around her to get to the basket of hard candy cookies on the shelf beside the pantry door. He grabbed a large handful of them and made to leave the kitchen, but was stopped in the doorway by Katherine's voice.

"I swear, I will bite you, if you say _anything_."

"Duly noted," said Damon as he strode out into the hallway, popping one of the cookies into his mouth.

—

Elena knew that Damon was probably still buried in paperwork, but she could only knit so long before she started going out of her mind with boredom, Katherine was nowhere to be found and Elena didn't want to go into town without her, Emily was busy with Addy, and she'd already written everything that was on her mind in her journal.

As quietly as she could (which, these days, was pretty dang quiet), she let herself into the study. To her slight surprise, Damon wasn't toiling away behind the large desk; instead, he was sitting in one of the armchairs by the window, deeply immersed in what looked like an old journal.

"Damon?" she said quietly as she closed the door behind her.

He jumped and snapped the journal shut. "Elena," he said, sitting up a bit straighter.

"I know you've had a lot of work lately, but I was hoping you'd be able to take a walk with me," she said.

"Of course," he said. "You're always a welcome distraction." He set the journal on the table beside the chair.

"What's that?" she asked curiously.

He glanced at it for a moment before answering. "My mother's journal," he said. His tone that suggested he didn't want to discuss it further, but Elena was deeply curious. Neither Salvatore brother in the present had ever talked about their mother. From the ladies at the last knitting group, she'd gotten the impression that Mrs. Salvatore died years before Katherine ever arrived in Mystic Falls.

Before she could ask any questions, Damon wrapped his arms around her and gave her a soft kiss. She decided to let it go for now. When they pulled apart, Damon offered her his arm. "A walk sounds like a wonderful idea," he said. "I've been inside all morning."

"You'll never guess what I found in the kitchen half an hour ago," he said as they left the mansion.

"What?" said Elena.

"Katherine," said Damon, his smirk audible in his tone.

"What?!" Elena said again, this time in disbelief.

"Covered head to toe in flour, too. She was making a cake."

Elena gasped in delight. "She took my advice!" she said, her grip tightening on Damon's arm. "I can't believe it!"

"What are you talking about?"

"She's been so upset about Stefan giving her the cold shoulder lately, so I told her she should think of something to do for him on his birthday. I didn't think she'd actually listen to me."

"Apparently she did," said Damon. "She is your sister, so you may feel differently, but ever since she showed her true colors, I haven't been able to abide the thought of her with my brother. Until now, if he'd decided all was forgiven and taken her back, I would've tried to talk him out of it."

"And now?" said Elena.

"Well, somehow I doubt I'll ever be able to look at her again without remembering her face and arms smeared with flour. If she can shelve her pride enough to do something like that for Stefan, maybe it wouldn't be the worst mistake of his life if he forgave her."

"Hopefully," said Elena. She stopped for a moment. "Why were _you _in the kitchen?"

"I was hungry," Damon shrugged.

She giggled and shook her head.

Damon reached up to smooth down a few strands of hair the wind had blown loose. "So beautiful," he murmured, leaning in to kiss her. She basked in it, and when they broke apart, she smiled warmly up at him.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they walked on, heading in the direction of the lake. Elena's thoughts drifted back to Damon's mother. The more she thought about it, the more her curiosity grew.

"Damon," she said before her courage could fail her, "would you tell me about your mother?"

He looked around at her in surprise. "What do you want to know?" he said.

"Whatever you feel like telling me," said Elena, not wanting to push.

"Her name was Sofia. I get my eyes and my dark hair from her. She was kind, loving, and could sing like an angel," he said. "She died when I was seven."

"I'm sorry—"

"It's okay. I can talk about it. Not long after she gave birth to Stefan, I fell ill. She was still weak from childbirth, but she insisted on tending to me herself. My sister Gemma, who was a year younger than me, caught it too, and we passed it on to Mother."

Elena couldn't believe her ears. A sister? Damon and Stefan _never _mentioned they had a sister before. When Damon realized she was looking at him like he'd grown another head, he sighed and pulled her towards a fallen log in amongst the surrounding trees, and they sat down.

"Mother's illness quickly escalated into pneumonia, and she died after about a week."

"What about your sister?" said Elena.

"She and I both recovered. If I take after Mother, it's nothing to the way Gemma did. She was like a miniature version of her, and Father doted on her endlessly."

He fell silent, and Elena reached out to take his hand. His jaw muscles were clenching and unclenching, and he looked like he was fighting back tears. "Father bought me a magnificent horse for my fourteenth birthday. It was a Salvatore family tradition. He wasn't fully trained yet, but Gemma begged me to let her ride him. I agreed, even though I knew Father wouldn't approve. The horse spooked and Gemma was thrown from his back. She hit her head when she landed, and the doctor couldn't save her."

"Oh my God," said Elena, her chest constricting.

"Father shot the horse and didn't so much as look at me for months."

"You mean he blamed you?" said Elena sharply. "How could he? It was an accident, and you were grieving too!"

"Who behaves rationally at a time like that?" said Damon. "I blamed myself too. The only way to keep from falling to pieces over it was by swearing that no matter what happened, I would never let any harm come to Stefan."

"Nobody could have been a better brother to him," said Elena. "And I'm sure you were just as good of a brother to Gemma." Even if they were completely misplaced in this case, it was so like Damon to transform his feelings of guilt into some kind of action, whether for better or worse. Stefan was the one more prone to wallowing and self-flagellating.

He looked around at her then, his expression tender, and pulled her to him for another kiss.

"What was that for?" she asked breathlessly when he released her.

"For being you," he said. "I wish my mother and sister could have met you." He smiled and shook his head. "We should be heading back now, or we'll be late for lunch, and I don't know about you, but I can't wait to try that cake."

Elena couldn't help but laugh. "Me too."

—

Throughout lunch, when she wasn't busy reeling from everything Damon had just told her, Elena watched Katherine covertly out of the corner of her eye, and noticed that Katherine was doing much the same thing to Stefan, though her expression when she dropped her guard was hopeful and anxious, while Elena's was mainly curious. Meals had been tense affairs of late, with Stefan equally wary of Katherine and determined to ignore her presence, and Damon and Elena not wanting to do anything that would spark unpleasantness. Today was Stefan's birthday, however, and Elena felt it was high time to break the uncomfortable pattern.

"So, Stefan," she said, smiling as she set down her utensils, "are you planning on doing anything exciting for your birthday?"

Stefan shrugged, pushing his food around on his plate with his fork. "Father gave me some extra spending money, and he wrote to say he'd be back in time to take me fishing at the lake this afternoon."

"It's been a while since he had time for that," Damon observed.

"Your father is returning today?" said Elena.

The conversation went on pleasantly enough, Katherine the only one not participating, until the cook arrived in the dining room, pushing a small cart on which sat a large, covered platter. Elena was quick to notice the way Stefan's eyes lit up when he saw it, as well as the way that Katherine sat up straighter in her chair, watching his reaction closely. Damon, meanwhile, stood up.

"Thank you, Jess," he said to the cook, who nodded and left the room. With a flourish, Damon then whipped the cover off the platter on the trolley, revealing Katherine's masterpiece of a chocolate cake. Elena could practically hear Stefan's mouth watering at the sight of it, and the childlike delight and pride on Katherine's face when she saw his reaction was undoubtedly the most sincere, innocent expression Elena had ever seen on her. If she'd had any doubts about playing relationship doctor to Katherine and Stefan, they were gone now. It was obvious that Katherine's love for Stefan had real potential to change her for the better, when nothing else had in half a millennium. And for Stefan's part, Katherine would certainly never do him the disservice of placing him on a pedestal, which Elena knew she'd been guilty of doing when they'd been together. He would never be afraid to challenge Katherine if he disagreed with her, whereas when he'd been with Elena, he'd been so caught up in trying to respect Elena's decisions that he'd eventually stopped making his own.

"I think Jess outdid herself with this one," said Damon, shooting Katherine a sly smirk to which she responded with a warning glare. Elena had to suppress a giggle. "Want to do the honors, brother?" he added to Stefan, offering him the knife.

A minute later, they were all digging into slices of the cake. Elena was surprised—food on the whole tended to be heartier if less varied than what she'd been used to in the present, but this was undoubtedly the best chocolate cake she'd ever tasted.

After an alarmed glance at his pocket watch, Damon began wolfing down the rest of his slice. "Do you have more work to get back to?" asked Elena between bites.

He nodded and swallowed. "I still have a great deal to do before Father arrives back."

"Anything I can help you with?" said Stefan hopefully.

"I'll let you know," said Damon, standing up, wiping his mouth quickly on his napkin, and leaning over to press a kiss to Elena's cheek before hurrying out of the room, leaving her blushing and with a bit of a silly grin on her face.

This brief display of affection seemed to put a crack in Katherine's defenses, for Damon had no sooner left than she turned nervously to Stefan. "How do you like the cake?" she asked.

"It's delicious!" he said with enthusiasm, but then he stiffened when he realized it was Katherine, not Elena, who had spoken.

"I'm glad you like it," said Katherine, sounding even more vulnerable than she did when she was drunk.

Stefan glanced at Katherine, and then looked down at his half-eaten second slice of cake, then back at Katherine. Realization dawned, and his expression hardened. He dropped his fork with a clatter, stood up, and strode out of the room.

For a second, Elena could have sworn she saw Katherine's eyes shining with tears, but the next, her face was completely blank. "Let me talk to him," said Elena. "He doesn't mean it, I'm sure. You just surprised him."

Katherine shrugged, some of her dejection managing to shine through despite her best efforts to appear unaffected, and she threw down her own fork and left the room through the opposite door as the one Stefan had taken.

Elena sighed and hurried after Stefan. She didn't use her vampire speed— undoubtedly that would only put his guard up even further—so it wasn't until he had left the house and reached the stone bench at the far end of the hedge maze outside that she caught up with him. "Stefan," she said.

"What do _you_ want?" he asked, his tone sharp and bitter.

"Katherine spent hours on that cake, you know," she said, ignoring his extremely unfriendly body language and plopping down next to him. "For once in a very, very long time, she was just trying to do something nice for someone else. I don't know if I'll be able to convince her to do it again in future if this is all the thanks she can expect."

"So, what, _I'm_ the one at fault for thinking _cake_ is insufficient recompense for what she did?" he spat. "I'm meant to simply forgive her for what she's done to both me and Damon and take her back now?"

"No," said Elena. "But there are some things you should probably know. Don't tell her I told you this, but Katherine has been running from someone who wants her dead for three and a half centuries. In order to survive, she's had to always put herself first and avoid any emotional attachments to anyone. So when she met you, she just did the same thing she's always done. I think it honestly never occurred to her that using compulsion on you the way she did was wrong, because she's just _so used_ to using it to get whatever she needs. The idea of earning your trust the right way—the _hard_ way—never entered her head."

"And this is supposed to make me sympathize with her?"

"I just want you to understand how extraordinary it is that she freed you, that she's stood back and taken it these last weeks while you openly despised her, and that she would do something as simple as baking a cake for you on your birthday. She never would have done any of it if she didn't truly love you."

That definitely gave him pause, but then he said, "I still can't just take her back."

"I don't expect you to," said Elena. "But it wouldn't kill you to show a little more gratitude than you just did. Until you knew Katherine baked it, you were perfectly happy to eat it, and I know you well enough to know that you'd have gone to the kitchens and thanked Jess for it if you hadn't figured it out." He scowled and turned away, but she pressed doggedly on. "You may not have noticed it, but I did: in that moment when you were simply pleased to have a special birthday treat, Katherine looked happier than I've ever seen her look. For just a moment, she knew the real joy that comes from doing something selfless for the person she loves—a feeling that would've been completely foreign to her, and all the sweeter for it. That was all the reward she needed, and you took it away from her."

Most of the tension and hostility in Stefan's posture was gone now. His shoulders slumped and his head dropped forward a few inches—classic Stefan symptoms of remorse.

"I don't think you understand how much power you have over her. She may be the most powerful being in Mystic Falls, but you, a human who isn't even of age yet, could break her."

He still wasn't looking at her, but she could see his brow furrow and his jaw tighten from watching his profile. "That wouldn't be my wish," he said, almost too quietly for even Elena to hear.

—

It was a long time before Stefan got up from the bench. He hadn't wanted to give credence to what Elena had said, but her words had affected him powerfully all the same. For all that Katherine had done, the thought that he might really have hurt her was painful to him.

She wasn't difficult to find. Not long after walking back into the house, Stefan discovered her in the sitting room, working on her knitting.

"Katherine," he said.

She didn't look around at him, but the click of her knitting needles immediately stopped. "Yes?"

"I want to apologize for my behavior earlier. You didn't have to bake me that cake, but you did, and it was wonderful."

She nodded, but didn't seem inclined to say anything else to him. As he watched her, a powerful wave of longing swept over him. Why couldn't things be as simple as they had seemed at first, when he'd thought they were just a young man and a young woman falling in love? Somehow it was still that simple for Damon and Elena, but could he and Katherine ever go back?

He turned to leave the room, but there was a gust of wind and by the time he was facing the door, Katherine stood in front of him. His pulse jumped and he resisted the urge to take a step back with difficulty.

"I owe you an apology as well," she said, looking down at her hands, which were twisting together. "I'm not in the habit of considering the feelings of others."

"Elena said it's why you're still alive," said Stefan, forgetting that Elena hadn't wanted him to mention that.

"She's not wrong," said Katherine. "But it's no excuse for my treatment of you. I want to be with you, Stefan. More than I've wanted anything in three and a half centuries. I see now that it was empty when you were only with me because I compelled you. You have my word that it won't happen again."

Stefan nodded and swallowed hard. "I can't promise you anything, Katherine," he said eventually. "I don't know if I can forgive you or trust you again. All I do know is that…I miss you."

Katherine's eyes snapped up to meet his and he saw the hope shining in them. For e second, he was convinced she was about to throw her arms around him and kiss him. The thought made him panic, but instead, she bit her lip and said, "You'd better go see if Damon needs your help with his work."

—

The first thing Giuseppe Salvatore did when he returned to Mystic Falls was to, as he had promised, take his younger son fishing for his birthday. Damon didn't begrudge them their father/son outing without him, mainly because he'd never seen the point of catching fish only to throw them back, but also because it gave him another couple of hours to finish everything he possibly could for when Giuseppe had a moment to go over all the work he'd done. He wanted to more than exceed his father's expectations, because there was something he needed to ask him, and it would go much smoother if he managed to curry favor with him first.

Sure enough, Giuseppe had hardly acknowledged Damon's presence in the study before he pulled out the ledgers and began to examine them minutely. Damon knew he was expecting to find errors, but was confident that his accounting had been impeccable.

"I'll never understand why you insisted on studying politics," said Giuseppe, frowning deeply. "It's plain as the nose on my face that your real talent is business."

Trust Father to go out of his way to make a compliment backhanded, Damon thought. Aloud, he said, "You're satisfied with my work, then, sir?"

"It's good work," said Giuseppe.

"Thank you," said Damon. "And now that that's settled, I wanted to ask you something."

"Something about work?" Giuseppe removed his reading glasses, dropped them on the stack of papers on the desk, and leaned back in his chair.

"No, sir, something about Miss Elena."

"Ah," said Giuseppe. He heaved himself to his feet and walked over to the small safe on the second shelf of the bookcase, opened it with a key from his pocket, and pulled out a velvet box before locking the safe again. "You were going to ask me for this, weren't you?" he said, standing up straight and facing Damon. "Your mother left it to you; it's already yours."

He handed Damon the box. As Damon opened it and looked inside, he had to swallow a lump that had suddenly risen in his throat. He snapped it shut and tucked it into the pocket of his waistcoat. "Thank you," he said again.

"She's a fine young woman," said Giuseppe with the closest thing to an affectionate smile he'd directed at Damon since he enlisted. "You might just be worthy of her after all. At least I no longer have reason to fear that you'll be unable to keep her and my grandchildren fed and clothed."

With every passing second, Damon's desire to leave the room was building. He'd had about all he could stand of his father's brand of affection and validation for one day. But the man was now pouring two glasses of brandy and offering him one, so he knew he was stuck. He accepted it and drained most of its contents before he and his father could sit down in the two yellow armchairs by the window.

"Providing for one's family isn't only about running a business, though," Giuseppe went on once he'd taken his seat. "Especially these days."

"What do you mean, Father?" said Damon, feeling a rising sense of foreboding.

"You may find this difficult to believe, son, but our town is plagued with vampires—demons that survive by feeding on the blood of the living, who corrupt and control the minds of the unwary. They think we don't know about them, but they tipped their hand with those attacks in September. The influential families of Mystic Falls have formed a council to put a stop to their evil. If you think you're ready to be a husband and the head of your own family, then I think you're ready to be on this council with me."

—

Taaroko: Well this was a bit of an emotional roller coaster, wasn't it? First Damon and Katherine's very silly encounter in the kitchen, and then epic sad with the dead mother and sister backstory. What I enjoyed most was all the stuff with Stefan. And now the plot thickens with Giuseppe inviting Damon to join the council! Dun-dun-dun.

BlackDove: Mara tired. Mara speaking like cavewoman. Mara needs sleep, and loves all you guys.

For slightly more coherent sentences, follow Mara on twitter: anglcdmn1986

(I'm kidding, even though it is like 3 hours past my bed time. I waited up for Taaroko to finish with the chapter and nagged until it was finished for everyone…that motherfucking scene about Sofia and Gemma taunted to me until I just became so frustrated with it, I gave it over to Taaroko. I think it was my idea to add it. But anyway. Night guys!)


	19. April Fool's Joke

_I PROMISE this is just a joke. I didn't want to upset anyone, so I'm updating/changing it now since it is now April 2nd. If we got you... PAHAHAHAHA. I almost died laughing several times throughout the night. Love all of you! If we didn't get you all, keep in mind this is not to be taken seriously. I want to try to get our next chapter up sometime this weekend/middle of the week next week. _

_-Mara/Black_Dove_

A week after Stefan's birthday, Elena found Katherine walking in the hedge maze by herself. Things between Katherine and Stefan had been improving lately, so Elena was surprised to find her wandering out there on her own.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked cautiously.

"Nothing," said Katherine. She heaved a sigh and turned to face Elena. "There's something I have to tell you."

Elena frowned. "What is it?" she said.

"I could be wrong," said Katherine. "I mean, it's been so long since the last time, and it shouldn't even be possible."

"What are you talking about?"

"How am I going to tell Stefan?"

"Tell Stefan what?" said Elena. She was starting to feel frustrated now.

"I'm pregnant," she said.

Elena's jaw dropped. "_What_?!"

Katherine made frantic flapping gestures with her hands to quiet Elena and looked around wildly to make sure no one heard.

"But this doesn't happen!" said Elena, still making very little effort to lower her voice. "Vampires can't have kids! _Stefan_ never had kids!"

Katherine's brow furrowed in confusion. "Stefan isn't the father," she said.

"What? Who is?" said Elena. Before Katherine could answer, anger flared up in her. "_Damon_?!"

"No, no!" said Katherine. "Of course not. It's…it's Giuseppe."

"This can't be real," said Elena flatly, turning her back on Katherine and walking away, keen to put some distance between herself and this madness.

"It is real, Elena," Katherine insisted, following close on her heels. "I love him! And I don't see why you're so surprised. He _is _closer to my age, and he's just as handsome as either of his sons."

Elena stopped in her tracks and looked around. "Then does that mean you won't be with Stefan?"

Katherine wrinkled her nose. "Of course not," she said. "He's far too young for me."

"Then what were you doing with him all this time?" said Elena in exasperation.

"Well, I have to get to know my intended's favorite son, don't I?" said Katherine in a tone that suggested that she thought Elena was being extremely dim.

Ignoring the baffling implication that Katherine and Giuseppe were engaged, Elena stayed on topic. "Then Stefan is fair game?" she said tentatively.

It was Katherine's turn to look surprised. "But what about Damon?"

"What about him?" said Elena. "I've only been with him because I thought you'd take my head off if I tried to be with Stefan."

By now, they had reached the back door of the house, where they found Damon standing on the other side. He had obviously been listening to the last bit of their conversation, for he looked very troubled. "Is that how you really feel, Elena?" he asked.

"It—it is," Elena stammered.

Damon sighed. "I understand," he said. "Do whatever makes you happy."

"What about you?" said Elena. She couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him. He had been so sweet to her, after all.

"Oh, don't worry about me," said Damon. He reached down and scooped up something at his feet, which turned out to be a white rabbit with a tuft of gray fur between its ears. "It'll just be me and Flopsy. Two very handsome bachelors. We'll take Mystic Falls by storm." He looked at the rabbit. "Isn't that right, Flopsy?" he added in a cooing baby voice, nuzzling his nose against Flopsy's.

"I hope you have fun," said Elena, and Katherine added her own well wishes.

"Thank you, ladies," he said, and strolled off through the open doors with a purposeful stride.

—

Elena sat bolt upright in her bed, Damon's arm falling limply from its spot around her waist. Her heart pounded in double time and her breathing was far more erratic than it ever needed to be in a being who didn't require oxygen to survive. Bits of the extremely disturbing conversation replayed in her mind over and over, making less and less sense every second. "What the _hell_?" she asked Damon's bedroom, which offered her no suitable explanation.

Damon muttered something indistinct in his sleep next to her, but didn't wake up. Slowly, her pulse and breathing eased, and she resumed her previous position snuggled up next to him, pulling his arm back into place and weaving her fingers through his. "I miss the sire bond dreams," she muttered vaguely before sleep reclaimed her.

—

Taaroko: *evil grin* Happy April Fool's Day.

Black_Dove: *almost dies from laughter* I had to take a wash room break while she was writing it. :P Nowwww back to work. Happy April Fools!


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Please stop getting ahead of yourselves. There is not a present day running simultaneously with the past, and therefore we shall not be breaking time in the story to jump to the present where everyone wonders what is going on and where Elena has disappeared to, because **_**it hasn't happened yet**_**. It would ruin the continuity of the story. Please, be patient!**

Chapter Nineteen

The arrival of December saw a sharp drop in temperature in Mystic Falls, and snow began to softly blanket the town. The town's children, heavily bundled in coats, thick stockings, and knitted scarves, caps, and gloves, could often be seen playing outdoors, their noses and cheeks red from the cold but their eyes bright with laughter. Smoke billowed endlessly from every chimney as the fires were kept lit around the clock to keep the homes toasty and warm.

Elena was delighted for the excuse the colder weather provided to cuddle up with Damon near the fireplace in the study after dinner to read. Hunting was slightly more problematic now—Elena flatly refused to feed off any of the kids playing outside, not that Katherine put up much of a fight on that subject—and everyone else was spending as little time out of doors as possible. Granted, most of the citizens were on vervain now anyway, and with over thirty vampires in town, there weren't always enough travelers from other towns to go around.

Katherine and Elena were managing well enough, but discontent was quickly spreading amongst the other vampires, especially those without daylight jewelry. Emily had made brooches for Katherine, as well as Pearl and Annabelle, and a ring for Harper on Katherine's request. However, she flatly refused to do the same for any of the others, who had done nothing to earn her trust. A couple of them had simply left town for greener pastures. Of those who remained, Frederick was the loudest of the dissenters, along with his girlfriend, Bethanne, and sister, Maria. Elena didn't often spend time with the rest of the vampires, but she heard enough to know that those three did not appreciate taking orders from a woman whose only concern seemed to be her human lover.

They were also not thrilled when they discovered that Elena's human lover was part of the Founders' Council, but Damon was already proving his usefulness as a mole. Deserter or not, his war experience made him very valuable to the Council, and that combined with his charisma had them trusting him very quickly. He now knew which water sources were spiked with vervain and that the Council had no idea how many vampires there were in town. His information made it easier for the vampires to stay one step ahead, and even Frederick wasn't stupid enough to ignore that.

As all of this was going on, Elena wondered when she would start to see the beginnings of Katherine's elaborate plan to fake her death. In spite of the Council's movements and the dissension in the ranks of the vampires, she managed to be—or at least _seem_—remarkably carefree. Whenever Frederick, Bethanne, and Maria started off, she would just laugh away their protests and suggest they leave town if they hated how things were in Mystic Falls so much. She scoffed at their insistence that they be given daylight jewelry; in her opinion (one Elena and Pearl shared), none of them were subtle enough to blend in with the townsfolk by day. Damon had assured them that the Council still didn't know about the daylight jewelry, and they weren't going to risk losing that advantage by giving rings to a pair of hotheads like Frederick and Maria, even if Emily changed her mind.

Tension was building steadily in all quarters, so that Elena wasn't at all surprised when, three days before Christmas, Damon informed her that the Council was unsatisfied with their progress against the vampires. They wanted to find one and kill it as soon as they could. While Elena wasn't surprised by this, she was a little anxious. She knew Damon hadn't been part of the Founders' Council in the original timeline. This change could put him at much greater risk. So she was determined to take whatever precautions she could.

"We're here in the attic with me in my work clothes and you in your nightgown…why, exactly?" said Damon. "I feel like we're a couple of children sneaking around playing games after we're supposed to be asleep."

"We're up here so that I can teach you how to kill a vampire," said Elena. "And if you think I'm doing that in a full hoop skirt where anyone could hear us and come poking around, you're insane." Also, thanks to the fancy Russian radiator Giuseppe had had installed in the mansion a couple of years back, the attic was just as warm as the rest of the house.

Damon frowned. "But the only vampire here is you."

"Which is why you won't _actually_ be killing any vampires today." She began to pace back and forth in front of him. "What do you know already?"

"Father told me fire would do it," he said.

"But fire is hard to control," said Elena. Unless she could somehow rig up a steampunk flamethrower using Civil War era equipment, that was, but she was no Alaric when it came to homemade weapons, so those chances were slim.

"There's also vervain," said Damon.

"Which is toxic, yes, but not fatal, and it's generally pretty hard to slip a big enough dose to a vampire to incapacitate him without him figuring out what you're about." Especially in this time of no syringes, she thought. "It's a better defense than an offense. Drink it and no vampire will be able to feed off you."

"But that includes you," he said, the corner of his mouth twitching and his eyes twinkling suggestively. "We can't have that."

When she first arrived in 1864, Elena would have been mortified to even entertain the thought of feeding off Damon, but in the two months since he'd learned what she was, she'd become reconciled to the fact that it was just another facet of her desire for him, another thing that brought them closer together. Perhaps if _he'd_ been horrified by it, she would have shoved it to the back of her mind and tried to pretend it didn't exist, but he quite openly enjoyed it and quickly taught her not to feel ashamed of her vampire nature when she was with him.

So now, after a comment like that, she didn't respond by blushing and chastising him as she once might have done; instead, she matched his smirk with one of her own and shook her head. "No, we really can't. But if you're not going to drink vervain, you should at least wear some. That way you'll be immune to compulsion."

"Well then, how do I actually _fight_ a vampire?" he said.

Elena sighed, stopping her pacing right in front of him and pushing a stray curl out of her face. "I'd rather you not fight any vampires at all." When he looked about to protest, she held a hand to his lips, looking earnestly into his eyes. This man. This beautiful, wonderful man and his complete, reckless disregard for his own safety. "Damon, what you have to understand is that fighting a vampire is nothing like fighting a man in war. Even the weakest vampire has the strength of at least ten men. You go up against one, and it could all be over in an instant."

"How do you mean?" Damon asked.

Within a split second, Elena had him pressed face-first against the closed door of the attic, his arms twisted behind his back. She stood on tiptoe so that he could see her bared fangs over his shoulder. He struggled just long enough to appreciate how pointless it was, before going very still, his heart hammering like that of a frightened rabbit.

"Too slow!" she said in a cheerful singsong voice, and she faked biting his neck with blunt teeth. He tensed up—perhaps actually expecting her to bite him—but she released him.

He turned to face her, still breathing very hard. "Point taken," he said, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Don't worry," she laughed, going on tiptoe again to place a quick kiss on his lips. She hated to frighten him, but he needed to be able to look at the situation realistically. "You know I won't actually bite you unless you want me to."

He nodded, running a hand through his hair.

"But most vampires aren't like me—even some of the ones here in Mystic Falls," she went on. "If they see you as a threat, it will only take a second for them to kill you. Now, tell me what else you know. I want to just teach you everything I can, but it might look suspicious if you suddenly know more than anyone else on the Council, and you the newest member."

"I don't think any of them has actually killed a vampire," he said with some disdain. "They're mainly going off accounts and journals of people who've encountered them elsewhere. They believe vampires can be killed with a wooden stake through the heart or decapitation."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Well they've got that right. There's not much that can survive without a head, and if so much as a sliver of wood pierces our hearts, we'll die. But staking a vampire is easier said than done." She pressed her hand over Damon's heart, much like she'd done in the present when trying to convince him that the sire bond changed nothing between them. "You don't want to go directly through the ribcage. You might be able to strike with enough force to get to the heart, but there's a better chance that they'll see it coming before you make it all the way through.

"But," she reached for his hand and brought it up to feel the ridge of bone that marked the bottom of her ribcage, "if you go up through here, there'll be nothing in your way." Her voice trailed off as she realized how close she was standing to him. Could she honestly not be near him for even a few minutes without wanting to kiss him until they were both dizzy? She looked up at him, his hand still where she held it against her body. He slipped it around her side and pulled her closer.

"Are you worried about me? With all of this Council—"

"I can't help it," she said. "I've seen the worst a vampire can do, and the thought of anything happening to you—"

He silenced her worries with a slow, deep kiss that turned her mind and knees to mush. She closed her eyes and gave into it. What started out as sweet reassurance, however, quickly built into something more. When she felt her back hit the brick of the chimney coming up through the lower floors, she tore her mouth away from his. "We're in the attic, Damon," she reminded him, giggling.

"I don't care," he said before attacking her lips again, one hand searching for the hem of her nightgown.

—

Much later, when the wind outside was beginning to whip itself into a blizzard, Damon and Elena lay cozily curled together in a pile of old blankets Damon had rescued from a dusty trunk. Elena wondered vaguely how many of these training sessions it would take before she could actually manage to teach him something useful before their passion intruded. Ultimately she decided it would probably be quite a few. But then Damon spoke, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"I've been wondering," Damon said, playing with one of her curls. "When we have children, will they be human or vampire?"

Elena felt as if her insides had frozen solid. She couldn't breathe. She sat up, holding one of the blankets to her chest, and tried to get a grip on herself. She knew this topic would come up eventually, so why was she freaking out like this?

"Elena?" he said, sitting up beside her and placing a hand cautiously on her back. "Have I said something to upset you?"

Elena gulped in a mouthful of air and turned to Damon, biting her lip and shaking her head. "No, it's not your fault. I can't expect you to know everything about vampires. But…." She squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face in her arms where they rested on her knees. She mumbled something indistinct, hoping he'd just forget about it. But of course he only wrapped his arms around her and asked her to say it again.

Damn vampire emotions. She was crying. Why did this matter to her so much all of a sudden, anyway? It wasn't as if she hadn't already resigned herself to a childless future after she turned, or as if she'd regretted it anymore once she'd finally embraced her feelings for Damon.

"We can't—I can't have children, Damon. I'm a vampire. I can't get pregnant."

Damon's arms tightened around her and he pressed a kiss to her temple."

"I should've told you before," she said, still sniffling. "I understand if this is a deal breaker."

"Hey," he said, reaching over to turn her face towards his. "I'm in love with you. If you can't have children, then I can't have children, and that's the end of it."

Elena looked at him, her vision still slightly blurry with tears. "Did you want them?"

He frowned a little, his eyes going unfocused. "I never really thought of it in terms of want. It was simply something that would happen one day. The first few years after Gemma died, when Father was at his worst, I would think of all the things I would do differently with my own children."

"Any child would be lucky to have you as a father," said Elena with a wistful smile.

"Or you as a mother," said Damon.

"Are you sure—," she started, but he cut across her.

"Absolutely." He continued to stare off at nothing in particular, a crease deepening between his eyebrows.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked after a few moments of silence, leaning her cheek against his shoulder.

"Eternity," he said.

"I didn't choose this, you know," said Elena, thinking she had a pretty good idea of what he meant.

"Really?"

"No. When I died, I thought that would be the end. I didn't know I had vampire blood in my system. But after I woke up and I knew what was happening to me, I couldn't bring myself to slip back into death. Not when I knew there were still people who cared about me, who needed me. So I completed the transition."

"If I asked you to turn me, would you?" he said.

She stiffened slightly. Somehow, as much as she had expected this, it was as hard to hear as his question about children. He wanted to be a vampire to be with her, but she was going to have no choice but to abandon him for a century and a half as soon as Emily figured out how to send her home. "I can't be the one to do it, but I wouldn't stop you if it's what you want."

"Why can't it be you?" he asked. The obvious disappointment in his voice made her smile.

"Because if you love me as much as I love you, then you could end up sired to me if I'm the one who turns you."

"What does that mean?"

"You would have no choice but to do whatever I asked you to, whatever you thought would make me happy. It would be a biological imperative."

He snorted. "That doesn't sound so terrible."

"But it is!" she insisted. "It's one thing if you're doing that because it's coming from you, but if it's coming from some force you can't control? And what if the real you would want to disagree with me about something, but you couldn't because the sire bond wouldn't let you? Don't you see? It has to be real and unquestionably voluntary, or it's empty."

"Hey, calm down," he said gently.

Elena blinked and sucked in a shaky breath. She hadn't even realized she'd started to get emotional about it. Being sired to present day Damon hadn't been terrible in itself, but the uncertainty about whether her actions and feelings were really her own—not to mention everyone else's reactions—had been torture.

"It's hard to imagine that it would ever be against my will to do something that would make you happy, that's all."

"I'm afraid I would forget myself and take advantage. I don't ever want to do that."

"I understand."

"Then you'll make sure to go to Katherine instead when you're ready to turn?"

He wrinkled his nose, but nodded. Elena smiled again. Ever since Katherine's little birthday cake project, it seemed she and Damon had formed some kind of grudging respect for each other, but the idea of using her blood to become a vampire would clearly take some getting used to for him.

—

Christmas Eve arrived, marked by a wealth of additional decorations in the Salvatore mansion. A large tree went up in the sitting room while smaller ones formed the centerpieces of what seemed like every table in the house, each one lit by wax candles and decorated with strings of dried fruit, popcorn, pine cones, colored paper, and silver foil. Garlands of spicy-smelling fir adorned all the banisters and mantelpieces, mistletoe hung over every doorway, and delicious smells of a feast cooking in the kitchen permeated every room. Elena hadn't witnessed any of the decorations being put in place, but her vampire ears had certainly detected plenty of bickering between Emily and Annie in the early hours of the morning before any of the family was up.

It was all so gloriously festive that Elena couldn't help wondering how it was even possible of a home in the South in the middle of the Civil War. She remembered learning about how hard things had been back then—well, now—in her history classes, how some of the Southern kids had thought the reason for the sparseness of Christmas gifts was that the Yankees had shot Santa Claus.

Perhaps the most remarkable sign of the season was that Giuseppe had given Damon a break from all the paperwork—including anything Council-related—, gruffly insisting that he find something more enjoyable to occupy his time until the twenty-sixth. As the sky was clear and the snow was only a few inches deep, he took advantage of his unexpected freedom by asking Elena out for a walk.

She took her time getting ready and heading downstairs to meet him, stopping to savor the fresh scent of the garlands. Everything smelled so much better to her as a vampire. She wondered vaguely if all the greenery had come courtesy of one of the Salvatore lumberyards.

"Ready?" Damon asked, wrapped his right arm around Elena's waist and pulled her close for a moment, kissing her cheek.

Elena turned in his arms and smiled up at him. "I am," she said. She was wearing the shawl she had knitted a month ago over a heavier overcoat—mainly to look the part; she didn't really feel the cold anymore. She smiled and softly fingered the material draped around Damon's neck. "You're wearing the scarf."

He gave her a wide smile. "By _far_ the best one I have," he said. "It's freezing outside, but I wouldn't miss taking a walk with you for anything."

"We'll just have to keep close," Elena said mischievously.

Damon did keep Elena close to him. Elena laced her right arm under his left and he pulled her close. It was very cold outside, but so beautiful. They heard a troupe of carolers singing somewhere nearby, and their feet crunched over the snow as they walked into the gardens. For a moment Elena thought Damon would stop there, but he led her further from that area and into the woods, to the tree where she first saw him in 1864—where he'd kissed her because he thought she was Katherine, forcing her to make him forget.

"I have something to ask you," Damon announced.

"Oh?" Elena said, eyeing him curiously. He looked extremely nervous, first taking his hat off and fiddling with it, then putting it back on, all while swallowing so many times that it looked like he was trying not to be sick.

Elena giggled and reached out to touch his arm. "Damon, darling, why are you so nervous?"

Instead of answering, he merely reached into his coat and pulled something out. She watched him fumble with it for a moment before pausing long enough to take off his gloves and shove them into his coat pocket. At last, she glimpsed the small box he was holding, and her eyes snapped to his. When he sank to one knee in the snow and opened the box, her hand flew to her mouth.

"I wish I'd been able to do this properly and ask your father first, but…Elena, would you do me the honor of giving me your hand in marriage?"

Elena held out her trembling left hand, so overwhelmed with emotion that she forgot to remove the glove. This sign of nerves from her seemed to steady him a little. She heard him give a little chuckle as he took off the glove and slowly slid the ring onto her finger. It was breathtaking: a gold band set with a large, deep blue sapphire that was surrounded by tiny diamonds. It was a perfect fit.

The next second, she had him pushed against the tree and was kissing him with everything she had. Still, he managed to break away, no longer looking remotely nervous. "Is that a yes, then?"

She smacked him lightly on the chest. "Silly man. Of course it's yes."

—

At breakfast on Christmas Day, Stefan was quick to notice the large sapphire glimmering on Elena's left ring finger, as well as the soft glances she kept exchanging with his brother. His father had clearly noticed it too, for he didn't wait long before clearing his throat and saying loudly, "Well, Damon, are you going to make us wait until the New Year, or are you going to tell us your news?"

Stefan almost spat out his mouthful of eggnog at the look on Damon's face, but managed to choke it down. Without thinking, he sought Katherine's gaze from where she sat across the table, grinning at her blushing sister. She turned her gaze on him at the same moment. His breath caught and her grin faltered. They had been on better terms in the weeks that had elapsed since his birthday, but things had still been strained and awkward. Instead of looking away this time, he smiled back at her. At that one simple action, her whole face lit up, reminding him of all the times they'd played their lighthearted games in the gardens together.

Both of them still smiling, they turned to watch as Damon got to his feet. "Thank you, Father," he said ruefully, "for letting me do this in my own timing."

Giuseppe raised his own glass of eggnog.

"You are, however, correct," Damon went on. "I do have news, though it can hardly come as a surprise to any of you." He looked at Elena and held out a hand. She stood at once, walked around the table to stand at his side, and placed her hand in his. "Yesterday, I asked Elena to marry me, and she said yes. I know it's been—" But he didn't get any farther, because Katherine chose that moment to let out a squeal of joy and race around the table to catch Elena in a tight, congratulatory embrace. Stefan, who had wisely left off drinking the rest of his eggnog, burst out laughing at Damon's affronted and flabbergasted expression.

"Whenever you feel like returning my fiancée, Katherine," he said pointedly. Both girls were giggling now, but Katherine did release Elena and sit back down, though she stole Damon's seat beside Stefan instead of returning to her own.

Stefan shot a quick glance at his father to see his reaction to all of this. He knew how troubled the relationship between his father and brother was, even if it had improved in the last couple of months. For the moment, Giuseppe looked like he was very far away. Stefan only watched him for a second before turning back to his brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law, but in that second, he was completely certain that his father was thinking back to the days of his own courtship of Sofia, the beautiful Italian immigrant who'd captured him with one flash of her brilliant blue eyes.

"What are you waiting for?" Stefan called loudly to his brother. "Kiss her!"

Even Giuseppe joined in the laughter this time, as a thoroughly exasperated Damon cried, "Will I decide nothing for myself this morning?"

Elena, laughing like everyone else, said, "Afraid not!" and initiated the requested kiss herself.

"Well that's about all the romantic nonsense this old man can stomach for one day," said Giuseppe, heaving himself to his feet and heading for the door. When he drew level with Damon, he clapped him on the shoulder. "Congratulations, son," he said, which earned him a kiss on the cheek from Elena before he could leave the room. Stefan suddenly felt happier than he could ever remember feeling on Christmas Day before.

Elena said something to Damon about curling up in front of the fire together with a book, and they departed too, arm in arm. Katherine stood and, avoiding Stefan's gaze, made to follow them out. For a second, he sat frozen in his chair, but then he leapt up and ran after her, catching her in the doorway.

"What are you doing?" she asked, clearly surprised.

"Look up," he said.

She frowned and did as instructed, and her eyes grew very round at the sight of the white berries dangling exactly over their heads.

"Merry Christmas, Katherine," he said, reaching up to catch her face in his hands and leaning forward to press his lips against hers. For a second that seemed to last forever, she was entirely still, but then she let out a soft moan and began to kiss him back, her hands sliding up to his chest and then around to the back of his neck. He was in heaven. He knew he'd made the right decision.

Katherine, however, seemed less certain. She broke away first. "What is this?" she asked, her voice ragged and her eyes looking desperately into his.

"A new beginning," he said. "I didn't feel like waiting until 1865." He dropped his lighthearted air and matched the intensity of her gaze. "Can you trust me, Katherine?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, looking confused. "Don't you mean that the other way around?"

"No," he said. "I get the feeling that it's been a long, long time since you trusted anyone. I'm not even sure you trust your own sister. But can you trust _me_?"

Something like abject terror flashed in her eyes, which searched his long and hard before she finally nodded. He smiled and caressed her cheek with his thumb. "Then I think I can trust you." And he leaned in to kiss her again.

—

Damon and Elena could only stay indoors for so long. The heavily overcast sky made it a little chillier than it had been when they went out the day before, but still not enough to deter them. Fresh snow had fallen in the night, and though it still wasn't too deep to manage on foot, the destination he had in mind was a little too far to walk, so he had George and Thomas prepare the phaeton.

Twenty minutes later, their hair tousled from more than just the wind, they arrived at the quarry. "What are we doing here?" Elena asked as he handed her down and tied the reins to a post by the side of the road.

"Nothing yet," said Damon. "But sometime in January, this'll all freeze over so thick that we'll be able to skate on it."

"You can skate?" she said, looking surprised and delighted.

"Well, you won't catch me doing any of those jumps and twirls," he said, "but I've never fallen down."

"It feels like forever since the last time I skated," said Elena. "I'd love to go. Was that all you brought me out here for?"

"No," he admitted. "After that lovely display in the breakfast room, I wasn't about to talk wedding plans within earshot of anyone in that house."

Elena grinned, but then a voice cut through the crisp December air, making them both jump and whip around. "Well, isn't this sweet." The speaker was a tall, thin Hispanic woman, her long black hair hanging loose about her shoulders. "One of the Pierce twins taking her pet out for a walk."

"What are you doing here, Maria?" asked Elena. She tried to sound fearless, but Damon could hear the wary undercurrent in her tone.

"Looking for something to eat. But even on a beautiful cloudy day like today, you two seem to be the only ones out and about," said Maria. Her eyes were fixed on Damon, even though it was Elena she was addressing, which he found extremely unsettling. "Be a dear and share a little with me, Miss Elena. It is Christmas."

"Go hunt somewhere else," said Elena, moving in front of Damon, her hands curling into fists. "I'm not 'sharing' my fiancé with anyone."

If Damon had blinked, he would've missed what happened next. Maria lunged straight at them and Elena darted to the side just long enough to break a spoke from one of the wagon wheels. Maria was heading straight for Damon and was close enough for him to see the bloody whites of her eyes when Elena intercepted her, ramming the jagged piece of wood into her torso. Maria screamed and doubled over, but the wound was not fatal.

Elena seized Damon by the wrist and pulled him towards the horse hitched to the phaeton, which was rearing and pulling frantically at the rope tied to the post, its eyes rolling madly in fear. "You have to get out of here," she said. She seemed to know what he was thinking as he resisted her grip, for she added, "We might be able to take her, but more could be coming. I'm not risking it."

Before he could make any attempt to calm the animal down, let alone unhitch it from the carriage and mount it, Maria was in front of them again, ripping the makeshift stake out of her gut and tossing it aside. This time, it was Elena she lunged at, striking her across the face hard enough to break bones.

"Elena!" Damon shouted. He didn't care if ten more vampires were on their way; he wasn't leaving her to fight alone. The stake was still lying in the snow a few feet away from the horse. Damon snatched it up, barely avoiding having his brains dashed out by flying hooves. When he faced Elena and Maria again, Maria seemed to have one dislocated arm, but was putting the other to good use, slamming Elena hard into the ground with her hand locked tight around her throat.

Without pausing to think, he ran forward and, gripping the stake with both hands, drove the jagged end through Maria's back with every ounce of strength he possessed, just below the ribcage like Elena had shown him. Maria released Elena with a scream and arched backward before collapsing beside Elena, her skin turning gray and veins crawling over it like worms.

* * *

Taaroko: Wow, this fic is doing more for my good opinion of Stefan than anything from canon ever. He's such a sweetheart! And all it takes for this to be his best Christmas ever is for everyone to get along. I just want to hug him and pinch his cheeks, but I'll refrain, because I don't want Katherine to kill me.

BlackDove: *distracted by Doctor Who* Wait, oh! Hi guys! Wanted to have this up sooner, but real live really does have a way of sneaking up on us! Heee I loved writing the proposal, but I have to give Taaroko most of the credit for this chapter. :) It's helping my opinion of Stefan too! Pahaha, and everyone teasing Damon when he tried making the engagement announcement. Sooo sweet. Did anyone else melt when Elena called Damon darling?

So, if you want updates, to see my bunnies and knitting projects, and to know when we're working on ATT (or Cheap Guitars, another fanfic I am writing on my own which is an au/ah Delena story), go ahead and follow me on twitter. anglcdmn1986 would be my name on there. First name is Mara, and I think my pic on my profile matches my twitter. I'm actually thinking about making my pen name AnglcDmn1986 on because it's a hell of a lot shorter than my other. (I get restless and change my name every few years—I've had an account since I was 14. 26 now).


	21. Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Damon stepped out of the phaeton (which still functioned well enough even with a spoke missing from one of the wheels), clutching Elena securely in his arms, one under her shoulders and the other under her knees, her head tucked in the crook of his neck. She lay still with her eyes closed, feigning unconsciousness as he carried her inside of the house.

"Father!" he shouted as soon as they were over the threshold. "Father, come quickly!"

A second later, she heard the sound of shoes on the wooden floor, drawing nearer until Giuseppe was in the entrance hall with them. "My God, son, what's happened to Miss Elena?" he said.

"We were attacked by a vampire," said Damon as he carried her in the direction of what Elena guessed was the sitting room. His tone was worried, and she doubted he was faking. "I staked her before she could hurt either of us, but Elena fainted in all the excitement. I doubt she's ever been exposed to such violence and horror in her life." He deposited her carefully on a settee as he spoke and brushed a stray curl away from her face. She wanted to lean into his touch, but remained motionless.

Elena could hear Giuseppe's increased heart rate and smelled his fear at this news of a vampire attack, but she doubted he was betraying any outward sign of weakness in front of his least favorite child. "Where did this happen?" he asked. Sure enough, his voice was curt and void of distress.

"In the quarry," said Damon. "I didn't have time to dispose of the vampire's body. I had to bring Elena home in case there were more of them."

"We can take care of that now," said Giuseppe. "She'll be safe here; no vampire can enter without an invitation. Get her to bed."

Elena felt Damon's arms slip under her again as he followed Giuseppe's order.

"What's happened?" said Katherine's voice as soon as Damon reached the top of the stairs.

"Is she all right?" added Stefan's. Elena hadn't heard a peep out of either of them at any point while she and Damon had been downstairs with Giuseppe, but it seemed that they had been together. This detail would've been more intriguing to her if not for the seriousness of what had just happened.

"She'll be fine," said Damon. His voice was slightly louder than it needed to be; no doubt for Giuseppe's benefit, if he was still listening. But a door closed downstairs, and Elena guessed that Giuseppe had gone to prepare his and Damon's horses to go back to the site of the attack.

As soon as they were in her room—she could tell by the way it smelled lightly of amaranth, forget-me-nots, mallow, and white clover from the bouquet of flowers Damon had given her for Christmas—, she dropped the swooning maid act and opened her eyes.

"Maria attacked us," she said as Damon set her down on her bed. "I tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't listen."

Anger flashed across Katherine's face, and Stefan looked alarmed. "Another vampire?" he said.

"There are more of us in town than you think," said Katherine. "But Maria's dead now?"

"She tried to bite me," said Damon, "but Elena managed to fend her off until I could stake her."

"Stefan, Damon!"

Elena immediately shut her eyes again and went limp at the sound of Giuseppe's approach.

"Yes, Father?" said Stefan. Elena heard feet shuffling and her bedroom door close. It seemed that everyone had left her room. She opened her eyes again and flashed over to the door—it was an unnecessary measure to hear what everyone was saying now that she was a vampire, merely a leftover eavesdropping habit from when she was human.

"I need to fetch Emily to tend to my sister," Katherine was saying. They were all back downstairs now. Elena pictured Katherine curtseying and walking away from the men while daintily holding her skirts up off the floor.

"Damon, I need you to come with me," said Giuseppe.

"Of course," said Damon.

"Stefan, I want you to stay here with Katherine and Elena and keep them safe. You're not to invite anybody in."

"Yes, sir," said Stefan. Elena heard some more scattered rustling and talking, then the front door slamming shut as Giuseppe and Damon left.

A few moments later, Katherine was back with Emily.

"Should we be worried about the other vampires?" said Elena at once.

"Frederick and Bethanne, maybe, but the rest wouldn't be stupid enough to take Maria's side after she attacked a member of the Council," said Katherine. "It's the first eyewitness account of an attack they've had. If Damon hadn't killed her, they would've torn her apart themselves for exposing us all so blatantly."

"But what if Frederick makes it about the daylight jewelry?" said Elena. "You know they all want their own; they'd agree with him about that."

"And they won't be getting it," said Emily crossly, her hands on her hips. "If any of them tries to ask for one or threaten me and my family for one again, it will be the last thing they ever do. By trying to attack Mr. Salvatore under this thick cloud cover, Maria proved that she couldn't be trusted with my daylight jewelry." She rounded on Elena. "But you! What's this about you and Mr. Salvatore being engaged? I know it's only to be expected after all this courtship, but you're only making more tracks for me to cover up when I send you home!"

Elena blushed and avoided Emily's gaze sheepishly. Maybe she didn't want it to be so easy for Emily to send her home.

Beside her, Katherine laughed. "Of all things to get upset with Elena about, you've chosen her engagement? Progressing through this courtship in the expected way, even if they are going a bit faster than most couples would, is only going to draw suspicion _away _from her. We have much more pressing matters to attend to. Whether or not the rest of the vampires take his side, as soon as Frederick realizes his sister has been killed, I'm afraid he might do something rash. We should go warn Pearl."

"But what if Giuseppe gets back while we're gone?" said Elena.

"We'll be quick."

—

Before they returned to the quarry, Damon and Giuseppe split up, one going to fetch Mayor Lockwood and Thomas Fell, and the other, Sheriff Forbes and the Gilbert brothers. Damon, Johnathan and Franklin Gilbert, and the Sheriff arrived on the scene first.

"Hell, Salvatore," said the Sheriff, staring at Maria's gray, vein-covered corpse with wide eyes. He spat out a thin stream of tobacco juice from between his teeth. "How'd those damn Yankees manage scare you away from the war if you're tough enough to take down a vampire?"

Damon didn't dignify this with a response.

Johnathan hopped down from his horse to get a better look at the body. "What happened?" he asked.

"It seems like the vervain from the apothecary and what we put in the wells is doing the trick," said Damon. "She was getting desperate. When she came at me and Miss Elena, she was muttering something about all the tainted blood in this town. Apparently we were the first humans she ran into."

"Is that a wheel spoke?" asked Franklin, dismounting too and moving to stand beside his brother.

"It is," said Damon. "I kicked it out of one of the wheels of the phaeton when she started showing her fangs." The sound of hooves up the road heralded the imminent arrival of his father and the other Council members.

"Is Miss Elena alright?" said Johnathan.

"Yes," said Damon. "The vampire didn't touch her. She was terrified enough to swoon, but she's resting it off at home now."

"It's a good thing Giuseppe brought you into this when he did, son," said the Sheriff as the man himself pulled up beside him on his horse, along with Thomas Fell and the Mayor. "We might be looking at two bodies if he hadn't."

"Anything else that attacks my fiancée will meet the same fate," said Damon, his lip curled. Of course, he didn't just mean vampires, but he wasn't about to tell them that.

"Fiancée?" repeated Thomas Fell. "Then you're engaged?"

Damon nodded, unable to hold in a smile at the thought.

"Congratulations," said Johnathan, while Thomas and Franklin both clapped him on the back. "She seems like a lovely girl."

"Damn fine to look at, too," said the Sheriff with a leer. "Her and her sister." He spat out another stream of tobacco juice.

Every word out of the man's mouth was testing Damon's restraint. He'd have liked nothing better than to break his nose.

"Can we focus on the situation at hand, gentlemen?" said Mayor Lockwood, shooting the Sheriff a cold look. "Was she the only one?" he added, turning to face Damon.

"The only one we saw, sir," said Damon.

"And she attacked you in the day?"

"Yes, sir," said Damon, "but she said something about the clouds, so I had the impression that they were the only reason she was able to be out of doors."

The others all looked tremendously relieved by this. Damon was relieved too, but not for the same reason. For a second, he'd been worried that they were about to dismiss the idea that vampires couldn't go out in the sunlight, which could put Elena at risk.

"Do you think there are more of them?" asked Thomas.

The Sheriff jumped heavily down from his horse and pushed past Johnathan and Franklin to get at the body. He reached out a hand and peeled back the grayed lips to examine the teeth. "There are more of 'em, all right," he said, standing up straight again. "Until today, they've been doing a good job of lying low, I'll give 'em that much, but I've been around to all the nearby towns, and I've seen bite marks both bigger and smaller than what this one could've made."

"Why haven't we found any bite marks here in Mystic Falls?" said Franklin.

"Because this is where they live," said Giuseppe darkly. "And they've settled in. They're not stupid enough to leave that kind of evidence."

"That's right," said the Sheriff. "The trick will be finding them even when they don't make mistakes like this one did."

"I'm working on something that could help us with that," said Johnathan.

—

"Pearl!" said Katherine loudly as she and Elena entered the apothecary.

"Merry Christmas, Katherine, Elena," said Pearl, appearing suddenly in the doorway that led to the back of the shop and the stairs that went to her and Annabelle's flat on the second floor.

"Oh, please, you don't celebrate Christmas," said Katherine dismissively.

"You're hardly a Christian yourself, my dear," said Pearl. "And I may have been a Taoist in life, but I can appreciate the spirit that holidays like this one bring to the community if I choose to."

"I thought you said we needed to hurry," Elena muttered.

"What's happened?" asked Pearl.

"Maria's dead," said Katherine.

"She attacked me and Damon," said Elena. "He killed her."

"Does Frederick know?" said Pearl, looking remarkably unperturbed by this information.

"I'm not sure," said Elena.

"Then we should inform him," said Pearl. "Come, Annabelle," she called over her shoulder, "We're going to visit Frederick and Bethanne."

—

When they arrived at the mansion belonging to Frederick—which, Elena noticed, stood on almost exactly the same spot as the Lockwood mansion in the present—, they found him pacing restlessly inside the darkened entrance hall.

"Has any of you seen my sister?" he asked when he saw the four of them. "She took advantage of the cloud cover earlier to go hunting, and she should've been back by now."

"She won't be coming back," said Pearl.

Frederick's eyes narrowed. "Why is that?"

"Because she's dead," said Katherine, her voice and expression both utterly devoid of sympathy.

Frederick stopped in his tracks. For a second, he stared at Katherine with wide eyes, but then the whites turned red and he lunged forward, fangs bared. "What have you done to her?" he roared.

Before he could reach any of them, Bethanne appeared out of nowhere and hauled him back with her arms tight around his torso. "Frederick, _no!_" she cried.

"What happened to her? I'll kill you all!" He fought against Bethanne's grip, but she would not let go.

"Maria was foolish enough to attack a member of the Council," said Pearl, her voice loud but calm. "Even if she had survived the encounter, I would've killed her myself for putting us all in danger like that."

Predictably, Frederick only seemed to grow more furious at this. "Who was it? I'll rip his head off!"

This time it was Elena lunging at Frederick, and Katherine who had to restrain her. "If you so much as lay a finger on him, I'll tear your heart out with my bare hands!" she shrieked. Never, not even when she'd killed Connor, had she felt so enraged. Her entire field of vision was thick with a pulsing red through which she could barely even see Frederick. _No _one got to threaten Damon and live. Especially not the asshole who had once nearly killed her and Stefan, resulting in Stefan's tailspin that had brought him dangerously close to his ripper self.

"Elena, sweetie, if you don't behave, I'm going to have to break your neck again," said Katherine.

Elena stopped fighting so hard against Katherine's grip. As angry as she was, she didn't want to miss any of this.

Frederick, meanwhile, had put two and two together based on Elena's reaction to his threats. "Damon Salvatore is the one who killed her?" he said. "He's a dead man."

"_Elena_," hissed Katherine, for Elena was now fighting harder than ever to get at Frederick. Her hand tightened warningly around Elena's throat, and Elena eased off again.

"You will not go anywhere near Damon Salvatore," said Pearl firmly.

Frederick turned his livid gaze on her. "You're on his side?" he demanded.

"You cannot attack a Council member without bringing even more suspicion on us!" said Pearl, clearly growing frustrated with his obstinacy.

"My sister is dead!" he spat. "Someone will answer for this! If not the man who killed her, then how about his brother? A sibling for a sibling. Or perhaps the twin whores sharing his bed?"

In a flash, Katherine had released Elena and was across the hall, thrusting her thumbs deep into Frederick's eye sockets. He screamed in pain and Bethanne recoiled in shock. Katherine threw him out of the hall into the parlor with enough force that he cracked the wood paneling on the wall where he landed. She sped over to his crumpled form on the floor and jerked him back up by his hair. "The only _sharing_ that will be going on if you threaten Stefan or insult me and my sister again," she said, "will be the carrion birds sharing the shredded remains of your corpse."

As a human, Katherine's display might have shocked Elena, but now she only wished she'd been free to inflict the damage on Frederick herself.

"Was it truly necessary to kill Maria?" said Bethanne tentatively. "Damon Salvatore knows our secret. Perhaps if she had attacked one of the other Council members, then there would have been no choice, but isn't he supposed to be our inside man? Couldn't he have just let her go?"

Elena bristled, and this time it was Annabelle holding her back, though there was no real need for it—at least, not at the moment. "I gave her a chance to back down, but she still went after Damon. When I defended him, she attacked me instead, so he killed her. It's her own fault she got staked. Damon said the Council has been growing restless to catch a vampire for a while. Now that they've succeeded, they should be satisfied with their progress and calm down."

"Or they'll only increase their efforts now they've had a taste of success," Bethanne shot back. "It's difficult enough as it is to get the blood we need when we can only hunt at night."

"She's right!" groaned Frederick, who obviously couldn't see the menacing look Katherine was shooting him. "We wouldn't have had this damn problem had Emily just made us rings!"

"Don't make me rip out your tongue as well," said Katherine. "Emily already had no intention of making rings for any of you, but thanks to the stunt Maria pulled today, she has now vowed to kill the next vampire who tries to disagree. If you're so unhappy with your lot here, you could always leave. No one's forcing you to stay."

"This is our home!" said Bethanne. Even she seemed to be losing her temper now. "You say we wouldn't be able remain inconspicuous like you if we were free to roam in daylight." She looked from Katherine to Elena and back again. "But it's you two who keep drawing the town's attention by fooling around with the Salvatores."

"Who's fooling around?" said Elena, flashing her engagement ring. "Damon and I are engaged."

"That's a joke," Bethanne sneered. "How do you expect to marry a human? Even your ring will not allow you to maintain your charade forever."

"The charade isn't what will be lasting forever," said Elena with a smile.

"Frederick," said Katherine, "I'm sorry your sister was stupid."

Frederick sputtered and blindly attempted to attack her, but she had him pinned facedown on the floor with her foot in an instant, and he could do little but curse and grumble about his still ruined eyes.

"We need to keep our heads," said Pearl. "The Council members are getting smarter. If anyone else tries what Maria did, they'll be getting no help from us. I suggest you pas that along to any of the others who aren't content with their lot here."

—

They were back at the Salvatore mansion just in time for Elena to be lying in bed as though Emily and Katherine had been tending to her all along when Damon and Giuseppe returned. This time, Elena couldn't focus on what everyone else was saying as Giuseppe came to check on her. She couldn't help dwelling on what Emily had said earlier, about the risks of being engaged to Damon. Surely it wasn't a matter of life and death, and Emily had already said that those were the only things that really meant anything when it came to preserving the timeline. Perhaps she was getting a little caught up in the life she'd created for herself in 1864 with the Salvatores and Katherine, but what other option was there once Damon had proposed? She'd hurt present day Damon enough times; the last thing she wanted was to see that heartbreaking look of rejection on his face here as well, or ever again.

Eventually, Giuseppe's voice and footsteps faded into the background. When it sounded like he was back in his study, Katherine and Emily departed as well, and Damon was the only one left in the room. Elena opened her eyes. It had probably been enough time that she should be recovering from her "faint" by now anyway.

"Damon?" she said. He was standing by her window, staring out at the gradually darkening landscape. His hair was a bit mussed up and he looked exhausted. Elena joined him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Today started out so wonderful," she said. "I wish Maria hadn't ruined it like that."

Damon sighed and hugged her back, on hand stroking her hair. "How well did you know her?"

"Not well at all," said Elena. "I only met her once before today." She bit her lip. "Katherine and I need to go hunting."

Damon's arms tightened around her. "Stay," he said. "Just take what you need from me."

"I'm doing that far too often already," said Elena with a little smile. "I'm sure it can't be healthy for you."

His grip tightened still further. "Please don't leave here tonight."

Elena pulled back and looked up at him. "You're afraid," she said, cupping his cheek with her hand.

"Nearly every member of the Council is on high alert right now," he said, covering her hand with his own. "After the initial slaps on the back I got for staking a vampire, they all started talking about new ways to find more of you. Johnathan Gilbert says he's close to a breakthrough."

Elena's insides immediately seemed to twist into knots. If Johnathan was making progress on his inventions, then it was only a matter of time before Emily would spell them, and then she would be sending her home. "Well," she said, "if we don't hunt tonight, it will only strain our control when next we do hunt, and that will be more dangerous for everyone."

Damon leaned down and kissed her gently. "Just be careful. For now, they suspect nothing of you; you walk in the sun and you were attacked by a vampire yourself. As far as they know, you're the amazing human girl who captured my heart."

Elena smiled. If only he knew that she _had_ been human the first time she'd captured his heart. But she couldn't tell him. She kissed him back, and it was a long moment before they broke apart. "I will be careful, I promise. I'll be back soon."

—

Three and a half centuries is a very long time to search for anyone, and even after living more than twice that long, Demetri had still not learned much about patience. For at least the thousandth time, he cursed the day back in 1496 that he'd run into Niklaus Mikaelson again. It had been the first he'd seen of him since their families had all lived in the Americas together, back when the arrogant prig had turned him into a vampire on the mistaken assumption that they were actually good friends. To Niklaus's fury, Demetri had not appreciated being forced into the ranks of the undead and had fled.

Ever since 1496, he'd been serving his penance for the perceived betrayal with this endless search for Katerina Petrova. He'd never even met the woman, but as he'd known her predecessor, Tatia, Niklaus still thought he'd be useful in finding her. In the beginning, he'd actually sympathized with her. Through no fault of her own, Niklaus had ruined her life. He could relate. But year after year and eventually century after century compelled to search the world over and nothing to show for it had turned him bitter. When he finally did find her, he would _not_ be handing her over to Niklaus in one piece.

The search was mostly aimless these days. It seemed that no one was better at eluding capture than this Katerina, and he currently had no leads. His travels had brought him close to the place he'd once called home, and even though it was also the location of some of his worst memories, he couldn't help feeling nostalgic after so long. The natives had been driven out, as they had been from so many places in the New World, and there didn't seem to be any wolves, but there was a town. A little town called Mystic Falls. How things could change in eight hundred years.

While a splintered young nation cannibalized itself around it, the town seemed largely untouched, tucked just beyond the war's reach. At least for now. Even small towns like this one could never remain entirely whole forever with so much chaos surrounding them. And he would be bringing a little chaos himself.

It was one of those rare days when the cloud cover was thick enough that he was free to walk while the sun was still up. There wasn't much time remaining before sunset, but he planned to enjoy it nonetheless. He concealed himself in some snow-dusted underbrush by the side of the road leading into Mystic Falls and waited. He could already hear a carriage approaching, and the ever-present hunger was unfurling within him in anticipation.

But someone else got to the carriage before he did. He took a few steps out of his cover, unable to believe his eyes. Here, of all places…Katerina? And she wasn't alone. He stared, dumbstruck at the two women, who were identical to the very last detail, right down to the pattern of the blood-swollen veins beneath their eyes. This was impossible. Even if there _could_ be another doppelgänger after Katerina—which there could not, as the line had ended with her—, a doppelgänger could only be born five centuries after the death of the previous one, and there was still more than a century to go.

There was one other possibility, but it seemed just as unlikely. Niklaus's older brother might have tried to save Tatia after their mother's terrible ritual by turning her, but Demetri had witnessed Esther driving a stake through her heart—had watched the life leave her body. She couldn't be here now.

But if she was…. If she was, then that meant she was somehow as strong as Niklaus and the rest of the originals. Stronger than him. He would need more preparation than this if he was to confront them both.

—

Katherine watched in mild displeasure as the carriage drove away, full of cheerful, ignorant, and entirely too alive human beings. After a day like today, she'd _really_ wanted to kill something. Elena always fought against the idea of Katherine killing any of their victims (and never killed any herself as per Emily's orders and her own ridiculously strict moral code), but she had been absolutely adamant about Katherine leaving everyone alive today, because it was _Christmas_.

Then again, taking her frustrations on a few hapless humans was probably not the best idea while things were so uncertain with Stefan. They were making more progress than she would have dared hope for a month and a half ago, and she was trying her hardest to trust him as he had asked, but he could still change his mind about her, and a Christmas massacre wasn't likely to improve her chances with him.

As they turned to leave, Katherine thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. When she looked again, it was gone, but she had not evaded capture by Klaus for three and a half centuries by ignoring small details, so she went for a closer look. What she saw was enough to make the fresh blood in her veins run cold.

There were footprints in the snow.

—

Taaroko: Now that my final grades are in, I officially have my degree in Creative Writing! Woohoo! Anyway, AnglcDmn and I were chatting a while back about why Katherine would have wanted to fake her death all of a sudden, after chilling in Mystic Falls for a whole year, and we figured something must have happened to make her feel like she was in danger again. Hence Demetri, the unwilling agent of Klaus. Who also happens to be an OC recycled from two of my Buffyverse fics. Anyway, I really enjoyed writing the bit with the Council talking around Maria's body. The Sheriff is such a scumbag.

AnglcDmn1986: Not only is the Sheriff a scumbag, but I remember not liking Demetri too much in Taaroko's Season 9, so he's perfect for this role. Anyway, I feel better now. Tooth has been removed, I yanked out a large piece of bone that was big enough to sit on one of my arrow keys (ewwww I know) from my mouth, and I've stopped almost coughing my head off every time I need to talk (and I do a lot of talking, since I'm a market research interviewer). I'm going to update Cheap Guitars sometime within the next couple of days. Go to Taaroko's page if you haven't been before, she's got her own story up. She's in my favorite authors, as well as a few of her stories, so she is easy to find.

Ahem. If you happen to follow me on Twitter, (sn is anglcdmn1986), sorry if you've endured my recent ranting about Revenge and cooing over my rabbits. I'm actually going to go back to swearing at my TV now because of the Revenge finale. Hope you all enjoyed!


	22. Chapter Twenty-One

Note from AnglcDmn1986: Out of fear of breaking some site rules earlier, I removed that author's note I had as a chapter earlier, but I realized the link to the update probably wasn't working. I took it down and reposted it: This IS the new chapter! I'm doing this during a work break/between repolishing my manicure because the nail tech put this ugly ass glitter shit on it. Ugh. Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-One

"Here, have some bourbon," said Damon, attempting to hand his brother a glass, but Stefan wouldn't take it. "What?"

"You never let me drink that," said Stefan, giving him a strange look. They were standing in the sitting area of Damon's room. The fire was well stoked, so they were both down to their waistcoats, the sleeves of their shirts rolled up to the elbows and their neckties tugged loose.

"True," Damon admitted, "but as it's Christmas and the anxiety of waiting for our ladies fair to return safe and sound is about to make me burst, I'm feeling generous. Now take it before I lose my head completely and offer it to Father instead."

Stefan chuckled and accepted the glass. Damon drew some small amusement from watching Stefan underestimate the strength of the drink and immediately attempt to swallow an entire mouthful, only to cough and splutter his way through it. "I may just give you the rest of it," said Damon. "Watching you drink is nearly entertaining enough to make up for still having a clear head."

Stefan scowled at him, though clearly not truly offended, and manfully swallowed another mouthful without so much as a flinch, though his eyes did water. "Why are you so anxious anyway? Don't Katherine and Elena go hunting every evening?"

"Yes, but they aren't the only ones hunting this evening," said Damon darkly, pouring a drink for himself. "There's a score of men out there tonight, all of them hell-bent on killing any vampires they can find."

Stefan sank slowly into one of the two chairs next to the wardrobe, the inner shelf of which Damon was currently using as a bar. "But they'll be all right, won't they?" he said.

"They're clever, and they're much stronger and faster than those men, so they certainly have the upper hand," said Damon, "but if I managed to kill a vampire, then another man could manage it too." He downed the contents of his glass in one go, set it back on the wardrobe shelf, and threw himself into the other chair.

Unable to deal with his thoughts, Damon eyed Stefan as he drank the rest of his own bourbon, now looking as tense and worried as he, Damon, felt. "So tell me, brother, have I been imagining things, or have you and Katherine more or less gone back to the way you were at the Founder's Ball?"

"You haven't been imagining things," said Stefan, staring at the empty glass in his hand. "But we haven't gone back. Not really. I've changed, she's changed. For a while, all I could see were the darkest parts of her, but she was trying so hard to be the Katherine I fell in love with, and I forgot why I was so determined to stay away from her."

"I think it was something to do with her controlling you and using you as a convenient food source and plaything," said Damon dryly.

Stefan shot him an irritated glance. "You don't understand," he said.

"Enlighten me," said Damon, spreading his hands.

"It was fear, Damon. Just fear. She wasn't prepared to feel what she does for me, and she acted on her first instincts so that she wouldn't lose me. It was wrong, yes. I have no illusions about that, but she has made amends." His eyes narrowed slightly and a grin spread across his face. "But why are we only talking about me and Katherine?" He reached over to slug Damon on the arm. "What about you and Elena? She wears Mother's ring well."

A lazy smile stole over Damon's lips, and his heart filled with a warmth that had nothing to do with the alcohol he'd consumed. "She does, doesn't she?"

—

"Katherine, what's wrong?" said Elena, alarmed. One minute, Katherine had been walking serenely at her side, and the next, she had dashed over to look at something in the undergrowth. When she returned, there was a wild look in her eyes and her face was white as a sheet. She didn't answer Elena's question, only kept looking all around them like a frightened animal.

"Katherine!" Elena said again louder, seizing her by the shoulders and forcing her to look at her. "What is it?"

"We have to get out of here!" said Katherine. "Someone was watching us. Another vampire. We have to check with the others to see if it was one of them. If it wasn't…it might've been one of Klaus's."

Katherine's voice shook and her eyes were wet with unshed tears. She clutched Elena's upper arms so tight that a human would've bruised. For Elena, no one else's fear had ever been more contagious, but she refused to give it power over her. She knew how this ended. No matter who had been watching them, Katherine did not get captured by Klaus in the eighteen sixties. They would be okay. "Calm down," she said firmly. "Even if it is someone who works for Klaus, you've managed to stay one step ahead of him for this long. You'll win this, and I promise you I'll do whatever you need me to do to help. Just keep it together."

Katherine swallowed hard and nodded. She was already returning to her old self.

"Let's go check with the others, like you said before," said Elena. "And then we'll go home, where no other vampires can get in."

They shared a look, then took off at top speed, Katherine leading the way to the home of the nearest of their fellow vampires.

"You are not to breathe a word of this to Damon," said Katherine as they ran, the forest blurring past on either side.

"Why not?" said Elena.

"I won't risk word of the situation with Klaus getting back to any of the other vampires. Or to Stefan." Off Elena's expression, she clarified, "If Stefan and Damon hear of this, they may try to play the hero, which would surely get them killed. I won't have it. They know of the Council—Damon is on it. That is enough."

—

Checking with the other vampires was both quick and distressingly fruitless. None of them had been anywhere near that spot when Katherine and Elena had been hunting. Consequently, Katherine was very jumpy by the time they returned to the Salvatore mansion. They stepped inside through the servants' entrance in the back, which Emily always left unlocked for them, and made their way upstairs.

Giuseppe was in his study and easy to avoid, but they had no sooner gained the second floor landing than Stefan and Damon emerged from the latter's room and spotted them. Both brothers looked almost faint with relief to see them standing there, safe and whole. Damon moved immediately to Elena, caught her face in his hands, and kissed her hard on the mouth without so much as a glance at Katherine, then pulled her back into his room and shut the door behind them. Katherine watched them go, but Stefan was watching Katherine.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She didn't answer, merely stood there twisting her hands together. He'd never seen her so unsettled. He stepped forward until he stood directly before her and gently stilled her hands with his. "Please," he said, lifting one hand to the side of her face, "tell me what I can do to help you."

She bit her lip, her fingers tangling with his now instead of her own. "I don't want to presume too much, but will you just hold me tonight?"

He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Of course," he said. She slipped an arm through one of his and they walked to her room together. "Is this about the Council?" he said as he closed the door.

"The Council doesn't scare me," said Katherine with a trace of her old haughtiness.

"So it's about whatever you've been running from," he guessed shrewdly.

She jerked around to stare at him, the muscles in her face tight. "I think so," she admitted. She sank onto the edge of her bed and buried her face in her hands. "I'm so _tired_ of running, Stefan," she said. "Lifetimes and lifetimes I've spent running instead of _living_. All I've gained is time, but is that even worth it?"

"Of course it is," said Stefan, kneeling in front of her and seizing her hands again. "If you'd given up at any point before now, I never would've met you. That's not something I would ever take back."

"Even after all I've done to you and your brother?"

"Even then," he said, looking her straight in the eyes. He stood just far enough to bring his face level with hers and kissed her, this time on the lips. He pulled one of her hands up and placed it over his rapidly pounding heart. "You feel that? All it takes is a glimpse of you, and my heart races. What you did before doesn't matter."

Katherine barely let him finish the last word before initiating the next kiss, which was much more passionate. He matched her enthusiasm, which was much greater than when they'd kissed under the mistletoe that morning. Their arms went around each other and then she was lying back on the bed and pulling him down on top of her.

Stefan's waistcoat was on the floor, his shirt was unbuttoned, and Katherine's hair was falling wildly out of its pins when she froze and broke off the kiss, one hand against his chest. "This wasn't what I meant to happen," she said breathlessly. "I shouldn't have presumed that—I should send for Emily to help me undress."

"No you shouldn't," said Stefan, smiling. "Allow me."

—

Some hours later, Elena lay under the covers with Damon, their legs tangled together and one of her hands tracing patterns on his bare chest. He had fallen asleep moments before, but she still clung to consciousness, if only by a thread. Her foreknowledge of the events of the eighteen sixties had made her take her safety from the Council for granted, but Damon had no such reassurance that all would be well. Despite her promises to be careful, he had very much feared for her life, and he had spent the time since she returned showing her just how much she meant to him and how desperately relieved he was that she was okay. Perhaps she should start bringing him along on the hunts so that he could feel like he was helping to ensure her continued wellbeing.

Gradually, her thoughts dimmed and her fingers stilled on his skin. The next thing she knew, she was walking through the forest behind the Salvatore mansion, but it was full of the sounds of children laughing. She followed the sounds around the trees and a little deeper into the woods, and eventually she found a boy no older than ten, barefoot and dressed in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black pants held up by dark suspenders. He had curly black hair and bright blue eyes that were full of laughter.

"Damon?" she said, amazed. He was so adorable that she could hardly stand it. Her heart felt like it might literally melt.

"Shh," he admonished her, a finger to his lips. "You'll give away my hiding place."

"I'm sorry," said Elena, and she moved to join him behind the tree. As she walked, she seemed to shed years until she was no older than him. "Who are we hiding from?" she asked, her voice that of a little girl's.

"Stefan and Gemma," he whispered. He peeked carefully around the side of the tree. "Here they come!" he said excitedly. "Come on, they'll find us if we stay here." He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him to another tree. Elena looked over her shoulder as they ran, catching a glimpse of a blue skirt before it was obscured by dark tree trunk.

"I'm going to let them find me," little Damon said conspiratorially in her ear, "because they're littler than me, and they'd never win otherwise."

Elena stifled a giggle behind her hand at his display of boyish arrogance. "Good," she said. "Because I want to see them. I only know Stefan all grown up, and I never met Gemma."

Damon beamed at her, showing off a couple of adult top teeth that were still growing in, then very pointedly stepped on a twig, breaking it in two with a loud _snap_.

"Over here, Stefan!" came a girl's eager voice. "I heard something!"

"I wanna find him, Gemma!" said a little boy's voice.

Elena covered her mouth again. She wasn't sure she could survive the cuteness of four-year-old Stefan and ten-year-old Damon at the same time, but she definitely wasn't passing up this chance.

The other two children came bursting around the tree with a chorus of, "Found you!" before they tackled their big brother to the ground.

"Nooo, not again," wailed Damon dramatically.

"You're so bad at this game, Damon!" Gemma giggled.

Elena watched them all, her hands over her heart. Little Stefan was barely three feet tall and his hair, which stuck up all over the place, was much lighter than it would be at seventeen. The knees of his trousers were heavily grass stained, and his suspenders were coming off one shoulder. Gemma had eyes as piercingly blue as Damon's and equally black and curly hair, which had a ribbon in it that did nothing to prevent it from falling messily halfway down her back, bits of twig and leaf sticking out of it. She had a smudge of dirt on one cheek and at least one tear in the skirt of her blue dress. Elena counted two missing teeth on the top and one on the bottom, and her adult front teeth hadn't quite finished growing in.

"Stefan, Gemma," said Damon, still dogpiled by his siblings, "this is Elena."

Both kids turned to look at her. Stefan stared with wide eyes, looking half shy, half awed, and Gemma smiled. "You're pretty," she said.

"So are you," said Elena, returning her smile.

"Who are you?" asked Stefan.

"I told you, Stefan," said Damon, sitting up and hugging his little brother. "She's Elena."

"Will you marry me, Miss Lena?" asked Stefan, still staring at Elena.

Elena laughed, and Damon ruffled Stefan's hair. "He's been asking every girl he meets to marry him since his last birthday."

"You can't marry her, silly," said Gemma. "Father already said four isn't nearly grown up enough for that, and anyway, she's going to marry Damon."

"That's right," said Elena. She crouched down so she was at eye level with Stefan. "What do you say, will I make a good sister-in-law for you?"

He pouted a little, but still nodded.

"Go on," said Elena, "It's our turn to find you two now."

Stefan and Gemma immediately scampered back off into the forest, making entirely too much noise with their footsteps and giggles to actually conceal their whereabouts.

Elena started counting, but Damon no longer looked like he was having fun. "What's wrong?" she asked, breaking off in the upper teens.

"They aren't what we'll find if we go looking," he said, getting to his feet and looking around.

"What do you mean?" she said, confused, but he was already walking away. She went to follow him and nearly collided with his back. The forest around them was different, a little more spread out, and Damon was an adult now, dressed in his Confederate uniform. Stefan and Gemma's laughter had been replaced by the sounds of gunfire and men yelling. Smoke drifted through the air.

A shot rang out so close that Elena jumped.

"David!" Damon shouted, running towards another man who had just slumped to the ground, his eyes wide and blank, an oozing bullet hole in his forehead.

"Damon!" Elena cried. "We have to get out of here!"

He didn't seem to have heard her. He was rounding on the Union soldier who had just killed his friend, charging at him with a bellow of rage. The Yankee was still reloading his gun, and Damon was closing in, but then the Yankee whipped out a knife and brandished it at Damon, who was too close to avoid the blow—

"NO!" Elena screamed. Suddenly back in her adult body, she sprinted forward in vamp speed. The blade of was millimeters from Damon's stomach when she seized the soldier's hand and twisted it around his back until he dropped the knife, then threw him away from Damon. He hit a tree and fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Elena?" said Damon. She turned to face him. He looked extremely confused. "What are you doing here? This isn't what happens."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"He kills me," he said. "Every time, he kills me. I killed him first, so it's only fair."

"But you're still alive," Elena protested. "You came home from the war, remember? And you didn't go back."

"This isn't real?" he said, even more confused.

"No," said Elena. Their surroundings were rapidly melting into blackness, and when it was just the two of them left standing there, she began to feel herself drifting away.

Elena opened her eyes and found herself looking into a pair of brilliant blue ones, the eyelids of which still drooped slightly with sleep. "Were you in my dream just now?" said Damon, his voice thick.

"I…I don't know," she said, stunned. "I've never done that before."

"I was playing hide and seek with Stefan and Gemma, and you were there," he said, frowning. "And then you saved me when that Yankee was about to gut me."

Elena nodded, her eyes going wide. "I didn't even know I was doing it. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," he chided gently. "I've been having that same nightmare nearly every night since I left the war. I'm glad of anything that can interrupt it."

She smiled and repositioned herself slightly against him. "I'm glad I got to see Gemma," she said. "And you and Stefan were such adorable little boys."

His chest moved under her cheek as he chuckled. "If you enjoyed it that much, perhaps I'll be able to show you Mother next time."

"I'd like that," she mumbled vaguely. Within minutes, they'd both fallen back asleep.

—

The next day passed fairly uneventfully. Damon was hard at work in the study again, and Katherine and Stefan had disappeared somewhere together, so Elena passed most of the time working on her latest knitting project, a pair of socks. The socks had been Katherine's idea, and when it was dinnertime and she only had half of one finished (but not the heel, which would've been actual progress), Elena was beginning to suspect that Katherine had only suggested them to keep her occupied for a good long while so she could run off and be all couple-y with Stefan.

Elena set the stupid sock project back in the knitting basket and made her way to the dining room when the bell rang. Katherine and Stefan were already there, shooting furtive grins at each other every few seconds, but Damon and Giuseppe had yet to appear. Elena listened hard to see if she could figure out what was keeping them, and her eyes widened in alarm.

"You put the vervain in the cider like I asked?" Giuseppe was saying.

"Of course, Father," Damon replied. "It's Stefan, Katherine, and Elena's favorite; we'll all have protection from the vampires' mind control before dessert."

"Good," said Giuseppe. "I'll rest easier when I know no one in my household is at risk."

Elena relaxed a little. So Giuseppe wasn't planting vervain because he actually suspected anything. That was something, at least. She took her seat. Damon and Giuseppe would walk into the room any second. She leaned over to Katherine, who was sitting next to her. "There's vervain in the cider," she said under her breath. Katherine froze, then nodded. With that, the two missing Salvatores arrived and sat down, Damon across from Elena and Giuseppe at the head of the table as usual.

"Before we eat," said Giuseppe, picking up the glass of cider in front of him, "I'd like to make a toast to guests who become family." He was looking at Elena and giving her the warmest smile she'd ever seen on his face. It actually made him look like someone you'd want to get to know. Damon, Stefan, and Katherine had all picked up their glasses too, and Elena did the same, glancing at Damon in slight alarm. He nodded once.

Giuseppe drank from his glass and they followed suit. Elena trusted Damon, but was still a little surprised when the cider didn't burn her. Damon smirked at her over the top of his glass, and she glared at him. He'd used the fake vervain Pearl had given them! He might've said something to her about it.

"And," said Giuseppe, "while I'm at it, I'd also like to toast to grandchildren. Lots of grandchildren." Stefan and Katherine laughed while Damon and Elena both went red, and Giuseppe sat down again.

—

"Must you go hunting tonight?" Damon asked Elena when they, Stefan, and Katherine were retiring upstairs for the night.

"Yes," said Elena firmly, a hand held up between them so that he could not attempt to win the argument with kisses. "But if you're truly worried," she went on before he could protest further, "why don't you accompany us?"

"You'd make an excellent decoy," said Katherine as she walked past them on the way to her room.

"Decoy?" he repeated blankly.

"Well, um," said Elena, "sometimes one of us will lie down in the middle of the road so that the next carriage to come along will stop." She chanced a glance up at his face, half-expecting him to look appalled, but instead he seemed amused. "What's so funny?" she said, raising an eyebrow and folding her arms.

"I don't know," he said. "I suppose I was just picturing the two of you using that ridiculous speed of yours to actually chase down the carriages. This makes much more sense."

Elena snickered. "Does that mean you'll come with us?"

"Of course," he said, and she beamed and stood on tiptoe to kiss him.

They left the house a few minutes later, and when Elena walked with Damon to the stables (unlike the girls, he wouldn't be going on foot), she was surprised to find that Katherine was helping Emily onto a horse as well.

"You're coming too?" she said.

"Katherine felt it would be prudent," said Emily.

"If someone's after us, they won't be expecting a witch," Katherine muttered so low that only Elena could hear. She nodded.

They went to their usual spot when they remained in Mystic Falls to hunt: the road leading into town. Damon and Emily tied their horses' reins to trees on the side of the road, and then they waited. After about a quarter of an hour, Katherine and Elena heard hooves and the creak of wheels coming up the road towards them. Before Katherine could persuade Damon to lie down in the middle of the road as bait, however, the girls both froze, their heads turning the other way.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I hear someone in the woods over there," said Katherine.

"It sounds like Johnathan Gilbert and the Sheriff," said Elena, frowning. "The Mayor too."

"You two stay here and carry on," said Damon, retrieving his horse. "I'll go lead them the wrong way."

"Thank you," said Elena.

"Be careful," said Damon, and he was off.

A moment later, his voice joined those of the Council men, and they all gradually grew more distant. The carriage, meanwhile, had just come around the bend up the road. Katherine nearly always made Elena be the bait, so this time she laid down before Katherine could order her to.

"What is—oh, Lord! Sir, sir, there's a woman lying on the road ahead," came the voice of the carriage driver. "I think she's hurt."

"Stop the carriage, Thomas," said another voice.

"What a terrible thing!" said a woman. "I do hope she's all right."

"Whoa!" said the carriage driver, and the horses stopped. Elena heard the driver jump down onto the road, grunting a little on impact, then walk towards her. Before he reached her, she could already hear Katherine compelling the man and woman in the carriage. _"You're not going to make a sound."_

"Miss?" said the driver, stopping right in front of her. "Miss, are you all right?"

In a flash, Elena was standing up and staring the man in the eyes. "Don't move," she said. "This isn't going to hurt." The bloodlust was already fighting to break through, and now she let it wash over her and lunged at the man's neck. She reveled in the taste and the power of the blood. Why would she ever want to go back to what she was before? Nothing she had ever felt as a human could compare to this.

The man's knees wobbled as he weakened, and Elena forced herself to pull away. She went through the motions of biting her wrist and healing him mechanically, trying to ignore the blood still dripping from the wound. She pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her mouth, then did the same to the side of his neck. After taking a couple of deep breaths, she looked him in the eyes again. "Thank you," she said. "Now go back to the carriage and forget any of this happened."

He nodded and walked away, a little dazed. Katherine hopped out of the carriage just as he reached it, licking her fingers clean. Elena glanced over at Emily, who was looking pointedly in another direction, her jaw set tightly.

—

Demetri watched the carriage trundle away, leaving just Katerina, Tatia, and the slave woman standing there. They hadn't seen or heard him yet and were merely debating whether to wait for the man who'd been with them before to return or go home without him. He wasn't going to waste his opportunity. He shot forward out of the forest and seized one of the girls from behind, one hand clenched around her throat and the other wrapped around her middle, pinning her arms to her sides.

The copy stifled a scream at the sight of him, and the slave woman rushed to her side. The one in his arms didn't move a muscle. "I'm going to make this very simple," he said. "If you tell me which one of you is Katerina and which is Tatia in the next ten seconds, I'll let Tatia go and only leave with Katerina."

"Who are you?" the one in his arms choked out, struggling uselessly against his grip. Her strength was no match for his, which made him suspect she was Katerina. Tatia would be equally strong.

"Demetri. I'm here on behalf of an old friend. Niklaus Mikaelson. Perhaps you've heard of him."

"No," said the one in his arms. He was pleased to hear the despair in her tone.

"Let her go!" said the one in front of him, her fists clenched.

"I will if she's Tatia. Niklaus has no quarrel with her, though I'm sure he'd be interested to know his mother failed to kill her after all."

"Enough," said the slave woman. He raised an eyebrow at her. "You _will_ release her."

"No, actually," he sneered. Who was she to think she could order him about? "I won't." But the next second, he felt as if his head was about to explode. Not just any slave woman, then; she was a witch. He gritted his teeth and blocked out the pain. "Impressive," he said, "but you'll have to do better if you want to stop a vampire as old as me."

He heard the sound of galloping hooves approaching and guessed that the black-haired man was probably on his way back, no doubt with some foolish notion of rescuing his woman from her attacker. He would die in the attempt, and the witch would be next. Instead of the feeble human offensive he was expecting when the horse drew near enough, however, he suddenly felt the pain in his head increase tenfold. It was pain beyond anything he had ever felt in his long lifetime, and it defied his every attempt to banish it. He couldn't help himself; he released the girl in his arms and fell to his knees, clutching his head, which was surely about to burst. Desperate for release, he forced his legs to move, fleeing as quickly as he could from the three women and the unknown newcomer.

—

Emily couldn't believe her eyes. The vampire attacker who had grabbed Katherine had already fled, and it hadn't occurred to her to try and stop him. "Samuel?" she gasped.

Katherine's expression was one of recognition and gratitude, but Elena's showed only bewilderment. The tall, broad-shouldered black man leapt down from his horse and walked towards her with an enormous grin on his face. "Hello, baby sister," he said, before pulling Emily into a tight embrace that she returned gladly, feeling tears of joy well up in her eyes.

—

The pain lessened the farther Demetri got from them, until it finally faded entirely. Whatever they'd done to him, it had sapped a great deal of his strength, and he was suddenly ravenous. He could hear voices nearby in the woods, and he went towards them, the veins already crawling across his cheeks.

—

"I really think we'll have better luck on the road than in the woods," said Johnathan.

"Agreed," said Sheriff Forbes. "Vampires hunt humans, not animals, and besides the four of us, what damn fool is going to be wandering the woods at night?"

"I already checked the road," said Damon. "There was nothing out there."

"Well maybe we should check it again," said the Mayor.

Damon was trying to come up with another reason why they shouldn't go back to the road that wouldn't raise their suspicions when they heard the undergrowth rustle nearby. He and the other three men froze, and Johnathan and Sheriff Forbes lifted their lanterns higher, but before they could do anything else, something emerged so quickly that Damon could barely track its movement and lunged at the Mayor. It was a vampire, male, blond, and slightly taller than Damon, though of a slightly stockier build. Damon, Johnathan, and the Sheriff had barely had time to recover from their shock when the vampire was reeling away from the Mayor. Blood dripped all over his chin, but he was clutching his throat as though in agony and stumbling worse than a drunk man. A second later, he collapsed.

"Damn," said the Sheriff. "That vervain really does the trick, eh, Mayor Lockwood?"

"I'd rather have found a different way to confirm that," said the Mayor dryly, holding a hand tightly over his wound.

Damon pulled out the stake his father had given him earlier that day and stepped forward, but Johnathan caught his arm before he could deal the vampire a killing blow. "We take this one alive," he said.

"Why?" said Damon.

"He could have information we need about the rest of the vampires in town," said the Mayor.

"And I know just where to put him," said the Sheriff. "We'll tie him up with that vervain rope and throw him over he horse." For good measure, he pulled out his pistol and emptied the barrel into the vampire's skull. "That oughta keep him down until we can get him in the cell."

"You're putting him in jail?" said Damon, perplexed.

"Oh, it ain't your ordinary jail, son. I built it special."

—

Taaroko: So originally the plan was for Stefan and Katherine to just cuddle that night, but they had other ideas when I was actually writing the scene. Oh well. Blame the hormones, I guess. And Elena's first trip into someone else's dreams! As ever, I really enjoyed writing the dream sequence. I hope she and Damon do that kind of thing to each other in S5, because why not? Seriously. It'd be like _Inception_, only without the danger of possibly never waking up. They could have so much fun with it. He could show her all the eras he's lived through. Anyway, another newcomer in this chapter, and it's Emily's brother! In canon, Emily worked for Katherine because Katherine saved both Emily's and her brother's lives, so we couldn't write an 1864-1865 fic without including him. Emily might be way stronger than Bonnie, but I figure even she couldn't brain whammy an 850-year-old vamp into the ground on her own, so she needs Samuel's help for that. And now Demetri's off to the Forbes family's horrifying vampire containment/torture cell. Fun times.

AnglcDmn: I really, really love this chapter. I've been a little antsy though about some other stuff that is going to happen later (no, I will not spoil it) that I'm dying to write, but I have a hang up for some reason with this story about writing out of order. It's coming soon though! FYI—I'm moving soon, and I know our updates haven't been that fast with ATT, but I'm hoping they might speed up sometime in July when I'll have more time to write. I posted another story, an AU in which Damon meets Elena later in college, called "Better Halves." Go check it out! Taaroko has her own solo fic going on her account too.

Go follow me on twitter if you want: anglcdmn1986


	23. Chapter Twenty-Two

If you left a signed review in CH 23, you might have to sign out to review this one (and please do!) because we removed the author's note due to fear of breaking site rules. The next chapter shouldn't be that way.

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Elena, what are you doing?" Damon asked, jumping down from his horse. He had let the Sheriff, the Mayor, and Johnathan Gilbert take care of Demetri, telling them he was going to scout the area for any more vampire activity—a cover, of course, so that he could return to Elena, Emily, and Katherine. The men had been reluctant at first to leave him alone, but detaining Demetri before he regained his strength was clearly the more pressing issue, so they gave in without too much argument. When he returned to the spot where he'd left the girls, he found only Elena.

"I wanted to wait for you," she said. She seemed jumpy, as if expecting an attack any second. "Katherine, Emily, and Emily's brother Samuel went on ahead."

"Emily's brother?" said Damon, surprised.

"Oh, yeah. He found us—and just in time, too. We were attacked by a really powerful vampire—"

"Blond, this tall?" said Damon, holding his hand at Demetri's height, which was just barely above his own.

"Yeah," she said, frowning. "Emily and Samuel had to combine their power to incapacitate him, and he ran away—but how did you know about him?"

"Because when he ran, he ran straight into us—me, the Sheriff, the Mayor, and Johnathan Gilbert, I mean. They were the ones you heard in the forest. The vampire bit the Mayor, but the Mayor's on vervain, so he started choking and collapsed. I was going to stake him like I did Maria, but they wanted to take him alive."

Elena relaxed at his words and caught her hands in his, twining their fingers together. "Good," she sighed. "I think I know where they're taking him. He won't be able to hurt anyone from there."

"Do you know him?"

"No, but he knew of Katherine. They can question him all they want, though, because he doesn't know anything about the rest of us in Mystic Falls." She moved closer to Damon, wrapping her arms around his neck and reaching up to kiss him. He returned the kiss gladly, understanding her unspoken wish for comfort. "We better get back home," she added when they broke apart. "Samuel asked us to meet him, Emily, and Katherine in the barn."

"All right," said Damon.

—

"This one's a real piece of work, ain't he?" said Sheriff Forbes. He and Johnathan nearly had the blond vampire to the containment cell he'd built specially earlier that year, but even with the dose of vervain and a grand total of twelve bullets in his skull so far, he was already beginning to stir again.

At last, they managed to get him down the back stairs of the courthouse, down into the basement cell, where they heaved him into the reinforced steel chair and strapped his hands and feet into the manacles. The vampire was groaning and struggling, but the Sheriff hurried over to a lever in the stone wall and pulled it, opening the vents that would seep just enough vervain into the air of the cell to keep him too weak to break free.

"Quite the holding cell you have here, William," said Johnathan, looking around at the walls, the window, the heavy door.

"I've been itching to test it out ever since I finished it last month," said the Sheriff smugly. "Looks like it'll do the trick, wouldn't you say?"

"Absolutely," said Johnathan. "And it has eastern exposure?" he asked, eyeing the window again.

"That it does."

"Then I'll be back here tomorrow morning to ask him a few questions about the other vampires in Mystic Falls."

—

Instead of using her speed to return to the Salvatore mansion, Elena climbed up behind Damon on his horse and wrapped her arms around him as they rode home together.

Her mind was reeling. Just when she thought nothing could surprise her anymore while she was stuck in the past, something else would happen that completely turned that notion on its head. Elena barely remembered Emily had a brother in the first place, so she had hardly expected to meet him, especially not just in the nick of time to save her and Katherine from a vampire older than double both their ages combined.

The horse's sides were heaving as they slowed to a walk in front of the mansion and then stopped at the stables. It hadn't been a long ride, but with two passengers, even a gallop was taxing. Damon jumped down and reached for Elena to help her dismount. He had just handed the reigns off to Thomas at the door to the stables when they heard a woman's shriek coming from the direction of the barn. They glanced at each other briefly before running over to see what was the matter. Elena was imagining that Demetri had gotten free and come to seek his revenge, but when they reached the barn, Katherine poked her head out, and when she saw them, she immediately dashed over to them and threw her arms around Elena. "You made it back all right! I was so worried!"

"Katherine, it's okay!" said Elena. "The Council captured Demetri. He can't do anything to us anymore."

Katherine seemed to sag with relief, but only for a second. The next, she stood up straight again, her expression clear. "Come inside, quickly," she said, looking from Elena to Damon. They followed her into the barn. When they entered, they found yet another surprise—one just as welcome as the first.

Emily and her children were all gathered in the barn, crowded around another unfamiliar man while her brother looked on with a gentle smile. This man was even taller than Samuel, his skin a few shades darker, and his shoulders a little broader. His muscular arms were wrapped tightly around Emily and tears were streaming down his cheeks. She was holding onto him for dear life, and all three children were firmly attached to either Emily's skirts or the man's legs.

"Josiah, I can hardly believe you're here," Emily said, her voice high and squeaky with emotion. "I thought you were still in Georgia."

"I was," he said, "but Sherman's army came through earlier this month and freed us all. That's when Samuel found me, and he brought me here, ahead of the march." He cupped Emily's face in his large, callused hands, and kissed her deeply.

Elena reached for Damon's hand and leaned her head against his shoulder as she watched the two of them. It seemed like the world disappeared for them while they kissed. She wondered if that was how she looked when Damon kissed her.

When Emily pulled back, she was in tears as well, but she looked happier than Elena had ever seen her. At that moment, Josiah looked past Emily and noticed Damon and Elena for the first time.

"I'm sorry," said Elena, "I hope we're not intruding. We can go—"

"Don't you dare leave," said Emily sternly, making both Samuel and Josiah chuckle. "I want you to meet my husband, Josiah. Dear, this is Katherine's sister, Elena, and her fiancé, Damon Salvatore. This is his father's barn, but you don't have to worry about him. We can trust him."

"And what about this little angel?" said Josiah, squatting down so he was close to eye level with Addy, who had one hand balled tightly in Emily's skirt and the other in her mouth as she stared at the man before her with wide eyes."

Emily sniffled and picked up her little girl. "This is Addy. Addy, say hello to your papa."

"Perhaps we should leave you alone to your happy reunion," said Katherine, stepping forward and touching Emily's arm. "If I hear anyone coming your way, I'll be back in a flash to warn you."

"Thank you, Katherine," said Emily.

"Yes," said Josiah, standing up with Addy in his arms, "I don't think I can ever thank you enough for what you've done for my family."

"You owe me nothing," said Katherine, smiling. "Emily has already more than repaid any debt that ever existed between us." Elena saw her fingering the pendant around her neck, and realized with a slight start that Katherine had likely spent the first three and a half centuries of her time as a vampire confined to the darkness. It was only after she met Emily that she'd been able to walk in the sunlight. No doubt Katherine considered the little blue stone priceless.

"You can stay here as long as you need to," said Damon. "I'll see to it that no one bothers you."

—

Johnathan Gilbert was back in the holding cell at the crack of dawn the next morning. The vampire was still there, slumped in the steel chair and coughing violently at the vervain in the air. Johnathan eased the lever that controlled the vents back about halfway, diminishing the vervain flow somewhat. He needed the vampire to be able to talk, after all.

"This torment can end quickly, you know," he said.

"With my death, you mean?" said the vampire. "I'm eight hundred and fifty years old. I would hardly consider death a reward."

"And yet you will die," said Johnathan. "But whether at my hands or at the Sheriff's is up to you. I would simply put a stake through your chest, but the Sheriff would drag it out as long as he could, even after you had no more information to give him, for the simple pleasure of it."

"Strange that a town that fears monsters would have such a sadist for a sheriff."

"You say you are eight hundred and fifty years old," said Johnathan, ignoring the vampire's remark. "Vampires truly are immortal, then."

"Only the original vampires are truly immortal. The rest of us, as you know, can be killed if so much as a sliver of wood finds its way to our hearts, among other weaknesses of which you clearly already know."

"Original vampires?" said Johnathan. "What do you mean?"

"The first family of vampires. The only means of killing them was the wood of a certain white oak tree, but naturally they burned it to the ground when they realized its significance. I've heard that special silver daggers dipped in the ashes of the tree can kill them, but not permanently. Only as long as the daggers remain sheathed in their chests."

"Have you done this to an original vampire?" asked Johnathan. He was fascinated. Who knew there was so much more to these demons than what they had learned already?

"Of course not," the vampire scoffed. "That would be far too easy. If a vampire wields the dagger, he dies when he uses it on an Original. Only a human can wield it against them safely."

"You seem quite eager to tell me all of this," Johnathan observed.

"Let's just say the Originals and I aren't on the best of terms."

"Are any of them here in Mystic Falls?" said Johnathan anxiously. Unless this vampire was for some reason carrying on his person one of these daggers that could kill him for using it, they would have no way of defending themselves against such a creature.

"No," said the vampire.

Johnathan breathed a sigh of relief. "How many other vampires are there in Mystic Falls?"

"How should I know? I only just arrived in town myself last night."

"Then why attack Mayor Lockwood, Sheriff Forbes, and I if not because you mean to oppose the Council's efforts to purge the vampires?"

"Because I was hungry," said the vampire. There was a glint in his eye that made Johnathan feel distinctly uncomfortable. "You were the first humans I encountered."

"You should choose your meals more carefully," said Johnathan dryly.

The vampire's face contorted into a sneer. "The only reason you and those other men aren't all dead already is that I was already weak when you found me. You can thank your witches for that."

"Witches?" said Johnathan. "I certainly do not associate with anyone like that! But why would they weaken a vampire? Are you not allies?"

The vampire laughed. "You think you're so clever. Locking up monsters in cages, playing at being heroes, protecting your town from evil—yet you know nothing. While some witches may let their power run away with them, they are nothing more than the servants of nature. As a rule, they loathe us vampires to our very cores. Ironic, seeing as it was a witch who first created us. I suppose it's a hatred born of shame and regret. They are more your allies than mine. On behalf of vampires everywhere, I thank you and your kind for spending the last few centuries hunting them down." He inclined his head ironically at Johnathan. "It's made our lot easier."

"Who are these witches?" said Johnathan. He was willing to pursue any avenues that could help lead to a vampire-free Mystic Falls, even if it meant working with witches. If the vampire was telling the truth, then they could be very useful.

"One is a slave woman. I didn't see the other. The woman was with a pair of twin sisters when I saw her."

The Pierce twins' handmaid? thought Johnathan in mild surprise. He was glad the Sheriff had not joined him for this interrogation. No matter how potentially helpful the Pierces' handmaid could be in their fight against the vampires, William Forbes was not the sort of man to let new information alter his beliefs, and he would have the poor woman and her unknown accomplice burned at the stake by the end of the day, as would most of the other Council members. And what was she doing living under Giuseppe Salvatore's roof? She was risking a great deal in this town, but perhaps it was not by choice. He would have to catch her sometime and speak with her.

—

Damon woke up before Elena. Judging by the dimness of the morning light filtering in through the curtains, he still had a while before his father would expect him in the study to do more work with the ledgers. His left arm was wrapped around Elena's waist, but he put his right behind his head and stared at the ceiling. More than ever now, he was certain he had been right to leave the war. He knew it was tearing apart families—hell, his own half-brother lived across enemy lines in West Virginia, not that he would have been likely to encounter the small boy on any battlefield. But until he witnessed the tearful reunion of Emily and her children with Josiah, he had never really given a great deal of thought to how much worse it was for families of slaves. On top of the many indignities they already suffered, children and spouses could be sold to different masters, never to see each other again.

He pressed a kiss to Elena's forehead. She murmured softly and incoherently in her sleep and snuggled closer to him. It was hard enough to be apart from her for the few hours he spent working every day; he couldn't imagine how it must have felt for Josiah, being separated from Emily for so long that he didn't even know their two-year-old daughter. Damon might not be fighting anymore, but he still heard enough about what was going on to know that the South was losing. It would probably only hold out a few more months at best. Perhaps then more people like Emily and Josiah would be free to find each other again, to pursue the happiness they had been denied thus far.

"Mmm, good morning," said Elena.

Damon smiled. "Good morning to you too."

"How long have you been awake?" she asked sleepily.

"Not long."

She reached up to smooth out the crease between his eyebrows with her thumb. "What've you been thinking about?"

"Emily and Josiah," he admitted.

"I don't think I've ever seen Emily so happy."

"She has her whole family back together. It doesn't get much happier than that."

Elena went quiet for a moment. Damon guessed she was probably thinking of all the family she had lost. He found the hand she had draped across his stomach and squeezed it. However, she surprised him a little when she said, "I'm so sorry I can't give you children, Damon."

Damon sighed. "We've been over this before, Elena. I don't want children if I can't have them with you. Although, if I won't be having children and things carry on the way they have been lately between Stefan and Katherine, it might be time to drop a few hints to Father about recognizing our old maid's boy as his son."

"Do you know much about your half-brother?" asked Elena.

"Not really. He and his mother, Sarah Jackson, live in Charleston, where she's working as a maid again and pretending to be a war widow on the Union side. Her son's name is Joseph."

"But isn't that—?"

"The English version of Giuseppe?" said Damon. "It is. Sarah wasn't being terribly subtle with her attempt to make Father notice him. He's about three years old now, but Father's never seen him. I didn't find out about him until after I came back from university. Father had already fired Sarah and sent her away. I tried to send her a letter once, but either it got lost or she doesn't know how to read. More likely the latter."

"Have you ever thought about meeting Joseph?" said Elena. "I know I'd be curious if I had a little brother or sister I didn't know about." It was a possibility that had excited her back when she first discovered she was adopted, before she learned the truth about Isobel.

"I have," said Damon. "I wish Father had never sent them away in the first place. He took the coward's way out when he did it. Mother had been dead long enough that nobody would've batted an eye if he'd just married the poor woman, and it's not as though he couldn't afford another son."

—

Demetri could have exposed Katerina and Tatia to his interrogator, but it seemed that the man and his cohorts were all at the center of a movement to destroy any vampires they found, and he would not risk Niklaus's prize being murdered by humans before he, Demetri, could present her to him. He had no qualms whatsoever in revealing the Originals' secrets to the man, though. If his knowledge led to Niklaus getting one of those silver daggers through his chest, Demetri would be free of his compulsion anyway, Katerina or no Katerina.

He strained against the metal straps holding his wrists against the arms of the chair. They creaked but did not give. But no matter. He _would_ get free. These restraints could not hold him forever. One of those men would make a mistake, and then he would end them all.

—

Later that afternoon, Elena and Katherine watched Josiah play with his kids outside near the barn. They were using their vampire hearing to keep watch while Samuel was in the woods hiding the extra horses he and Josiah rode in on. Elena hated thinking that way, but Giuseppe was an intelligent man and he would notice something was different if he suddenly had two more slaves and two more horses.

The game was really more of wrestling match, full of playful squeaks from Tara and "I'll win!" from Benjamin. Elena didn't hold back her giggles when Josiah picked up Benjamin and held him upside-down, completely immobilizing him.

"Be careful, you three!" Emily admonished from the hay bale she was sharing with Addy a few yards away from them.

"Don't be silly, Momma, we're tough!" Tara said.

"You are, are you?" Josiah said as he reached down and grabbed a shrieking Tara by her waist.

"I know Emily is indebted to you," Elena said to Katherine as Tara wiggled her way from Josiah's grip and then latched herself onto his leg in an attempt to knock him down. "But I never heard the whole story."

Katherine sighed. "Emily had just found out she was pregnant when their owner decided he was going to sell Samuel and Tobias."

Elena gasped. "He was going to separate them? That's horrible!"

Katherine nodded. "It happens all the time," she said, her contempt for the majority of the human race clearly audible in her tone. "Josiah went without a fight, not wanting to stir up any trouble, but Samuel wasn't so restrained. He tried to use his magic to get away, but he got caught. Then Emily used her magic to try to save _him_. I happened to come along the night they were being hauled off by a lynch mob."

"Oh my God," said Elena. "How did you save them?" Addy giggled when Emily pressed kisses to the baby's neck and blew a raspberry on her cheek.

Katherine shrugged. "Well, from what the mob was shouting when I arrived, I gathered they were witches, so I whisked them away and compelled anyone who asked questions."

Elena nodded absentmindedly. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if someone were trying to force her away from Damon and Jeremy. The thought of it horrified her, so she could imagine what Emily and her husband and brother went through. Addy squealed from her hay bale with Emily and Tara and Benjamin yelped in triumph as they knocked Josiah to the ground (though it was obvious to Elena that he had let them do it). Josiah quickly turned it around on the kids and pinned them to the ground with tickles.

"After that, I compelled the man who owned them to forget them," Katherine went on. "We looked for the man who bought Josiah, but he was long gone by then, and we couldn't find him. Samuel decided to go to the North so he could join the Union army and help put a stop to the South's treatment of people like him, and Emily and the children came with me, Emily posing as my maid."

"Is that when Emily made your daylight ring?"

Katherine nodded and a small smiled appeared as she watched the kids play with their father. For a moment, Elena wondered if Katherine was thinking about her own daughter, and if that hadn't perhaps been a part of her motivation to help the Bennetts so much. She could easily have abandoned them once she had her daylight pendant. It couldn't all be an act.

—

AnglcDmn: Hey guys! I'm between apologizing for waiting for this chapter and not. I had to move from my apartment and I was very busy because moving is **_NOT_** easy (especially when you have a big ass computer desk that has to be broken into 3 pieces and almost wouldn't go back together when a back board snapped in two… it's rickety now). I would rather wait to update ATT than to give you short, crappy updates (especially since we both like to write on paper first). We put a lot of thought into this story, and real-life stuff has to come first before fanfiction. Besides, I'm living with my brothers now because one of them bought a house. It is a much better situation for me (well, it will be when Micky gets the garage finished and moves out there with his dog). You need to keep in mind we have full-time jobs, and we can't always update a crazy amount—and I'm living with four other people now. I am also spending a lot of time with my brothers.

I wanted to point out that I am stunned we have 431 reviews (that was the count when I last looked). I love all of you, and I'm sorry if I don't always get a chance to reply to every single review (especially if you are a guest reviewer).

That said, I'm going back to enjoying my wine buzz (I drank 3 glasses within the span of 20 minutes, pahaha just because I don't like the girl who brought it here and she said it was only good for cooking…HMPH… and my bro's girlfriend just gave me another glass) and I want to watch the new episode of True Blood. Make sure you guys leave a review!

(Blame my really long AN on the wine…mmmmmm… this so was not just for cooking…)

Taaroko: I loved tying together all the stuff that happened offscreen in canon 1864 in this chapter. We wanted to show things like how Johnathan Gilbert got all his information, since he was from 19th century small town America, there wasn't much evidence to suggest that he traveled much to get his research, and it's not like he could Google it (or "Bing it," rather, if we're keeping up with TVD's hilariously transparent product placement *eye roll*). We also wanted to do more with Emily and her family, and explain their whole backstory with Katherine, since the show never really went into detail with that either. So yeah! Hope you guys liked it.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty Three

In eight hundred and fifty years, Demetri had never gone so long without blood. It had been nearly two weeks since he was imprisoned in his cell. The iron bands trapping his wrists and ankles in place still held as immovable as they had when he was first locked inside them, though he had been straining at them nonstop ever since. His body was really starting to shut down now, and his mind was going even faster. He saw his quarry, Katerina Petrova, before his eyes every moment, whether he was awake or asleep. Three and a half centuries he had spent hunting her on Niklaus's orders, and now that she was finally within reach, he could not get to her.

He let out a roar of frustration and wrenched against his bonds yet again. To his surprise, though the iron didn't yield, his wrists slipped back and forth several inches inside the iron. He had grown so thin that the restraints were no longer tight. Hope rekindled in him, and he folded his thumbs close against his palms and pulled. Slowly and painfully, he was able to work his shriveled hands backward through the manacles until, at last, they came free.

At once, he set to work on the shackles on his legs, and within moments, he was free of that accursed chair. He stood up slowly, his joints and muscles protesting from disuse and his entire being aching with hunger. He tried the door, but it was reinforced and wouldn't budge. The window that had been used to torture him with sunlight, on the other hand, was just big enough that he was able to slip his emaciated form through it.

He emerged into the dingy back lot of the jailhouse, which was joined to several other buildings that ran along Main Street in each direction. Night had fallen and all was silent, the full moon glowing brightly overhead. Most of the humans nearby were probably up in the living quarters portions of their shops, where he wouldn't be able to get to them. If he was going to hunt down the men who imprisoned him, he would need to feed first. Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood, and Johnathan Gilbert would all die tonight, if he had to burn down their homes around them to do it. And then he would take Katerina at long last and bring her to Niklaus.

A door opened a little distance to the north of him, a few buildings down from the jailhouse, and a young woman emerged, carrying a sack of what appeared to be food waste from her kitchen, which she deposited in a large wooden barrel a few feet from the door. She turned to go back inside, and seeing his opportunity slipping past, Demetri staggered towards her. He tried to use his speed but failed, stumbling over his feet.

The girl halted and looked around at the sound of crunching stone. "Who's there?" she called warily.

"Please help me," said Demetri. His voice was rough and seemed to grate against his vocal cords on the way out.

She took a few steps towards him, the light from a window showing the concern on her face. "Are you alright, sir? Should I fetch help?"

"No," he said, still making his slow way towards her so that they were only feet apart now. It was all he could do to keep his features human with the smell of her blood so close, but he couldn't risk scaring her off now. "You'll do just fine."

He lunged at her throat. Though he still wasn't moving very quickly, she was so startled that she failed to react in time. He clamped a hand over her mouth to stop her screams and went directly for one of her carotid arteries. He usually preferred the jugular veins, but after being starved in a cell for a fortnight, he was far too hungry to eat neatly. The spray of blood from the severed vessel was dizzyingly euphoric to his deprived body. Within seconds, the girl's struggles ceased and Demetri let her fall limply to the ground. He was by no means fully recovered, but he was certainly far better off than he had been.

"Mary?" came a man's voice, and a head poked out the door the girl had left open. "What are you doing?"

In a flash, Demetri was at the door and pulling the man the rest of the way out. He gripped him tightly by the shoulders and glared directly into his shocked face. "Where does Mayor Lockwood live?" he snarled, locking gazes with him.

The man's expression went from horrified at the sight of Demetri's blood-splattered visage to blank and compliant as the compulsion took hold. He answered the question in a flat, mechanical voice. Two minutes later, he was lying dead on the ground like Mary, while Demetri was speeding his way to the Lockwood estate.

He could see the mansion, grand by American standards, sprawling out on the edge of the forest ahead of him, and he was just pondering on how to draw the honorable Mayor out when he was distracted by a growling sound in the woods to his left. He looked around just in time to catch a glimpse of the gray wolf leaping directly at him before it was on top of him. Though he was greatly refreshed by the blood of the two people behind Main Street, Demetri was still not quite back to his usual strength, and before he could fight back properly, the beast's jaws were already locked around his throat and tearing at his flesh.

Too late, he managed to get a firm grip on its coarse fur and throw it away from him, agonizing pain already pulsing outward from the wound. The wolf was back seconds later for round two, this time latching onto Demetri's right arm while it ripped at his chest with its claws. He struggled and yelled, rolling to get away, and finally managed to land a crushing blow to the wolf's muzzle. It let out a whimpering howl and turned tail and fled.

Demetri cursed and waited for his wounds to heal, but they did not. Everywhere the wolf had bitten him seared with torturous pain worse even than the sunlight the Sheriff had regularly exposed him to. He was suddenly ravenously hungry again, but there was little chance of another human wandering into his path so easily, especially one free of vervain. What was happening to him?

The sound of laughter rang in his ears, and he looked around. The grinning face of Katerina Petrova loomed out of the darkness at him. "Fool," she said. "You thought you were about to be free, didn't you? Take me to Niklaus and be on your merry way. But you know the creature that attacked you was no ordinary wolf."

"No," Demetri groaned. "You lie. I will take you to Niklaus and he will release me from his service. It's what I deserve after all these years!"

She laughed again, and another voice spoke, sounding just as amused. "Do you really expect such honorable treatment from me?"

Demetri turned, falling to his knees and almost crying out when the small action aggravated his wounds even more. His vision swam, but eventually the man standing over him came into focus. "Niklaus," he spat. His voice broke into a series of violent coughs that soon had him vomiting blood.

"I turned you against your will and forced you to throw your immortal existence away on this fruitless pursuit. You really believe I would just let you be once your task was complete? After it took you so long to complete it, I'd be more inclined to rip your heart from your chest with my bare hands."

"But you swore to me, Niklaus!" Demetri protested.

"I think you have me confused with Elijah," Niklaus scoffed. "Three of my siblings currently have daggers in their hearts because I place my temper far above my honor. I was never going to free you, but you aren't long for this world now anyway, and you never even finished your task. I should've found a better minion to hunt Katerina down. You proved to be utterly worthless."

"Go to hell!" Demetri shouted, taking a swing at Niklaus's arrogant face, but his fist met only air. Had he merely been a hallucination?

Demetri sank back to his knees. He glanced around blearily to find that Katerina was gone too. He was alone. He was dying.

"He never should've turned you."

Demetri raised his eyes. It was Katerina again. Would he never be free of her, even in death? But no…not Katerina. Tatia.

"But then," she went on, "Esther should never have turned her children in the first place. True, she had lost two sons, and that was certainly agony for her, but other mothers all through history have lost more than she without resorting to such evil."

"Why would you come to me?" said Demetri. It almost wasn't worth the effort to say the words, it was so painful to draw the breath for them now.

"You will be dead before this night is over," said Tatia simply. "My descendants have nothing to fear from you. And know that I would have ended you myself if you had taken one step towards Niklaus with either of them."

It was too bad hallucinations couldn't wield stakes. All Demetri wanted now was for it to end.

—

Sheriff Forbes was beyond livid when he found the cell empty. He quickly enlisted the help of Johnathan Gilbert (who was just walking out of the apothecary when he found him) in moving the two bloody corpses in the back lot to the edge of the forest, where it the "mauled to death by wild animals" cover story would seem more plausible. Then, while he set to work reinforcing the window in the cell, Johnathan made his way around town to inform the rest of the Council that the vampire had escaped.

The Salvatores Johnathan saved for last. Once he had given Giuseppe the news to pass on to Damon, he doubled back around and knocked on the kitchen door at the back of the house.

A large black woman opened the door, looking perplexed at the sight of her guest. "What can I do for you, suh?" she said, fiddling with a wooden spoon in her flour-caked hands.

"Sorry to interrupt your cooking," said Johnathan politely, "but could you find Emily Bennett and ask her to meet me out by the barn when the family is having dinner this evening?"

"Yes, suh," she said, though she still looked confused.

"Thank you," said Johnathan. With that, he touched his hat and left.

—

When his father told him about the vampire's escape from the Sheriff's holding cell, it was difficult for Damon to keep himself under regulation. His father and the rest of the council were of course mainly concerned with protecting the community, and that was all very well, but Damon's priority was Elena—and, for Stefan's sake, Katherine. Demetri had gone for them first, and now that he was free, he would surely try again.

As soon as he could get a minute away from his father's paperwork, Damon hurried up to Elena's room, where he found Katherine (already dressed and ready for the day) doing something to Elena's hair while Emily helped her into what looked like the outermost layer of her dress. Elena smiled at him in the mirror and Katherine looked around, but when Emily saw him, she was not pleased.

"Mr. Salvatore!" she said, shooting him a stern look as soon as she spotted him. "I know Miss Elena is your fiancée, but you go right back out into the hall this moment and wait until she's fit to be seen!"

He bit back the suggestive retort that sprang to mind at that, but Katherine showed no such restraint. "I'm sure he'd consider her fit to be seen by him in much less than this, Emily," she said, smirking. Elena went bright red and smacked Katherine on the arm.

"What's so urgent that it can't wait?" said Emily, hands on her hips, ignoring Katherine.

"Demetri has escaped."

Katherine dropped the strand of Elena's hair she had been in the process of pinning and shot Emily a rather panicked look. It was the least composed Damon had ever seen her. "And they haven't caught him?" she said.

"Well if they had, then I would hardly have left it at 'Demetri has escaped,' would I?" said Damon dryly.

"The three of you will have to excuse me," said Katherine, "I need to go." She looked at Emily. "It's mostly finished," she said, gesturing to Elena's hair. "A few more pins should do it." With that, she made a beeline for the door, moving so quickly that Damon was forced to leap out of her way.

—

As soon as Emily finished working on Elena's clothes and hair, she left the room (but didn't shut the door), giving her and Damon a bit of privacy. Elena quickly seized the opportunity to greet him with a kiss, as she'd wanted to when he first walked in, but anything more than that would have to wait; she was worried about Katherine. Knowing Katherine's long-engrained habit of running from danger, she half-expected to find that she had already fled, but she was merely sitting on a stone bench in the back garden, sucking in deep, steadying breaths, her eyes closed.

"You're already making plans to escape, aren't you?" Elena said.

Katherine let out her breath slowly and placed her right hand over her heart while fanning herself with her left. "I need to," she said. "I don't know if Demetri will find Klaus right away, but I need to not be here when he does."

Elena walked over to the bench and sat down next to her. She took one of Katherine's hands in hers. Katherine's eyes shot open in surprise.

"Is Demetri really that much of a threat to you?" Elena asked.

"Yes."

Elena bit her lip and considered what she was about to say. It was probably her best option, as far as not screwing up the timeline went. "I'll support you in whatever you're planning to do," she said. "All I ask is that you include me in it."

"You might not like it," said Katherine.

"I'm sure I won't," Elena agreed. She knew enough about Katherine's plans to fake her death to be convinced she wouldn't like it one bit. "But I'll do what's necessary until Emily can send me back to my time."

She gave Katherine's hand a squeeze, then stood up and walked away through the garden, thinking it'd be best to give Katherine time to calm down and work out her plans on her own.

—

Not long after receiving the news about Demetri, Giuseppe had left Damon with the paperwork so he could go join the hunting party that would attempt to track him down before nightfall. Damon seized the opportunity while nobody else was around to find Emily in the servants' quarters in the back of the house. When he knocked on the door, her soft voice told him to enter. He opened it enough to poke his head inside, and saw that she was just putting her youngest child down for a nap.

"Could I have a moment, Emily?" he asked quietly.

"Of course, Mr. Salvatore," she said, and he held the door open for her and led the way to the empty study. He didn't feel like he could just blurt out what he wanted without some kind of preamble, so he asked, feeling a little awkward, "So have you heard anything from Samuel or Josiah yet?" Emily's brother and husband had left not long after they arrived, heading for the West Virginia border.

"Not yet, but I'm not worried," said Emily. "What is it that you want?"

"I need to do something to protect Elena," he said.

"I thought you might," said Emily, nodding. "There is a protection spell I can cast, but to do so, I'll need this." She pulled a piece of paper from a pocket in her apron and handed it to him.

"Amber?" Damon asked, looking over the sketch on the paper and reading the notes written to the side.

"Yes. I need amber in an iron setting. I obviously don't have the resources to procure one for myself, but it should be easy for you."

Damon glanced out the window, which had a good view of the gardens. He could see Elena strolling along in the hedge maze at a leisurely pace. It was warmer today than it had been in months, and she was obviously taking advantage of that. The thought of her in danger from Demetri, from the Council—it made his chest ache and his blood boil with the need to destroy anything that might harm her.

"Are you sure this crystal will be enough to protect her?" he said. "Isn't there something else?"

"This _will_ keep her safe," Emily said firmly.

"But how? It's just metal and stone."

"It will enable me to channel the power I need for my spell. But there's something else I require."

"Name it," said Damon at once.

"If the day comes when the crystal must be used, then it will mean that Miss Pierce and Miss Elena have been discovered. As their maid and a witch, I will be in danger as well. If you swear to me that you will do all you can to keep my family safe, then I will do everything in my power to protect the Pierces for you."

"You have my word," said Damon. "As long as I live, I will make sure no harm comes to your family." He extended his hand, and Emily shook it. Her grip was firmer than that of most men, and there was a strange undercurrent to it. He had the feeling that this was far more binding than any agreement made between two ordinary people could ever be.

"Then we have a deal, Damon Salvatore," said Emily.

Damon nodded and she released his hand. "I'll have the amulet commissioned right away."

—

When Katherine had gotten her fill of fresh air for the morning, she went back inside to her room, where she was pleased to find Emily putting away a few freshly laundered dresses in the wardrobe.

Emily glanced over at her and raised an eyebrow. "You look like a woman with a plan," she observed.

"As always," said Katherine dryly. "And part of it involves you spelling daylight rings for the Salvatore brothers."

"You still mean to turn them, then."

Katherine narrowed her eyes slightly. "You know it's a foregone conclusion, Emily," she said. "Elena knows them both as vampires in her time. I wouldn't want to change history, would I?"

"No, but it doesn't mean I have to approve," said Emily curtly, putting the last of the dresses away and closing the wardrobe door.

"You'll make the rings, though?" said Katherine.

"As soon as you have them ready for me."

"It may take a few weeks, but I don't plan to turn them just yet in any case."

"Very well," said Emily. "But I'd like to know that this is something they're choosing for themselves. You don't mean to force it on them, do you? Are you even going to let them decide?"

"I love Stefan, and though Elena can't turn Damon herself, it's only natural he wants to turn for her. And I'd prefer that they don't spend their first three and a half centuries trapped in darkness as I did. It's a pity I didn't meet you sooner."

Emily pressed her lips together tightly. "I wouldn't assume that this is what Stefan wants based solely on a glimmer of foreknowledge. Please, Katherine, let this be his choice. He won't thank you for deciding for him, and there's no going back from such a decision."

"If he loves me, then why would he choose differently?" Katherine said. She felt her temper rising, which was ridiculous. She knew how Stefan felt about her. He'd spent the last fortnight since Christmas Day demonstrating his affections, and she'd fallen even deeper in love with him for it. Of course he would turn for her.

While she was distracted by her own thoughts, Emily suddenly shot the doorway an indignant look. "Mr. Salvatore!" she said loudly. "Miss Elena's room I understand, even if I don't approve, but what business can you possibly have in here? Your disregard for propriety is appalling!"

Damon ignored Emily, his eyes fixed coldly on Katherine, who lifted her chin defiantly.

"Did I hear that right?" he said. "You're planning to turn Stefan into a vampire?"

Katherine rolled her eyes. "You really should leave, Damon. I need to change for the afternoon, and I don't think our siblings would approve if you stayed to watch."

"Don't deflect, Katherine," said Damon through clenched teeth. "Have you even asked him if this is what he wants? Because he hasn't said a word about it to me, even though he knows perfectly well that I mean to turn for Elena."

"No," said Emily, her frown still in place. "They haven't discussed it."

"What was the point of freeing him from your compulsion if you were just going to force something like this on him anyway?" Damon demanded.

"Why are you both so convinced that he wouldn't want it?" said Katherine. Yes, following the advice of Emily, Damon, and Elena in the past had helped her get her relationship with Stefan to the place it was now, but she was starting to get very tired of all of them telling her what to do, particularly considering that she was older than all of them put together, several times over. "Of course he will want to do this for me! We're in love! It's only natural to want to be with your love for the rest of your life, and if that means forever, then all the better!"

"How could you possibly know that unless you actually have a conversation with him about it?" Damon asked. "He's only seventeen, Katherine, and barely." He glared at her for a moment while breathing through his nose, the muscles in his jaw tight. "Can I have a few moments alone with Katherine, Emily?" he asked eventually. "I won't delay your preparations for more than a moment."

Emily shot Katherine a warning look, but said, "Of course," then dipped a curtsey and left the room. Katherine sat down in front of her vanity and took out her earrings. They didn't quite match the dress she would wear for the afternoon. "It's been a while since you've been alone with me in my bedroom," she said.

"I want you to turn me," said Damon, not taking the bait.

Katherine raised an eyebrow at him through the mirror. "What, right now?"

"I can't protect Elena as long as I'm like this!" he said in obvious frustration. "And with Demetri out there, I need to be able to do _something_."

"If I were to turn you today, then you'd be putting Elena in even more danger. New vampires are no use to anyone. You'll be too busy fighting your bloodlust and struggling with your heightened emotions. Believe me, now is not the time. You'd expose us all in under a day." She examined her hair in the mirror, looking for anything that might've come loose in the course of the morning, but her curls were still perfectly in place. "Besides, with all your insistence that I discuss this with Stefan, have you even talked about your heroic little plan with Elena?"

"At least _I'm _the one who has the right to decide whether I turn or remain human," Damon retorted.

"Has it occurred to you that I simply might not have had the opportunity to discuss it with Stefan yet?" said Katherine, standing up and facing him again. "What harm is there in making preparations, especially when the situation in this town is so uncertain? And you, so eager to throw away your humanity for love. Has Elena even explained the process of becoming a vampire to you, Damon? Drinking a vampire's blood, dying, and then the transition. It's hell if you don't feed immediately."

"She _has_ explained it," said Damon. "And you say I wouldn't be any use to Elena as a new vampire, but I'd be strong enough to fight anyone threatening her."

Katherine laughed. "Not Demetri, you wouldn't," she said. "He's older, faster, and stronger than all of us combined."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?" Damon cried, throwing his arms up. "If he comes for the two of you now, I'll last less than a second. As a vampire I may at least be able to give her time to escape."

Katherine stared at him, realizing that he wasn't going to back down. "Fine," she said. She reached up and pulled out one of her hairpins and used it to slit open a thin wound just below her jawline. "Drink your fill and I'll snap your neck."

"What?" said Damon, taking a startled step backward.

"You want to become a vampire?" said Katherine in challenge, "Go ahead and drink it from my neck right now. Hurry before it heals."

"I can't drink from your neck," he protested. "It wouldn't be appropriate."

"Why not?" Katherine challenged. "It would be much less appropriate if I were to lift up my skirt and let you drink from my thigh. There's a better artery there…"

"_Katherine_," Damon said. "Why would you even suggest such a thing? You can't just give it to me in a glass?"

Katherine grabbed a handkerchief and wiped away the blood from her neck. The skin had already healed. "That's not the point," she said, turning her back on him and replacing the hairpin. "Come back when the thought of drinking blood doesn't make you squeamish."

Damon glared at her. "Very well. But you still need to talk to Stefan. Perhaps you're right, and I'm not as ready as I'd like to believe, but I _know_ it's what I want, and soon. He deserves the same."

With that, he left Katherine's room, slamming the door behind him.

—

For all her confidence when arguing with Damon and Emily, now that Katherine was actually seeking Stefan out, she suddenly felt much less certain of his reaction. She'd planned on turning him from the moment she realized her feelings for him, and Elena's information about the future had only cemented it as absolute fact in her mind. In all that, it truly hadn't occurred to her that he might have other plans. What if it _wasn't_ what he wanted? What if he shut her out and avoided her for months, like when she'd de-compelled him? She didn't think she could bear that again.

When she tracked him down, he was in the kitchen, sneaking a powdered pastry that surely wouldn't be served until dinner. He heard her footsteps in the doorway and jumped. "Katherine!" he said. He looked like a naughty child with his hand in a cookie jar. The sight made her want to forget what she had come to talk to him about. He was so young. So young, and so innocent. And if she had her way, he would be the former forever but the latter never again. Was she heartless to want it anyway?

As he looked at her, his face fell into an expression of concern. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

She stepped forward to take his hand and led him to a set of chairs next to the kitchen door. They sat down together and he waited for her to speak. She swallowed thickly. "You love me, right?"

"Of course I love you," Stefan said, reaching up to stroke her cheek.

Katherine smiled and leaned into his hand. It was amazing how much sweeter it was to hear those words when there was no compulsion involved. Elena had been right. "Then—" The words were stuck in her throat. She swallowed again. Why was this so hard? She tugged nervously on the sleeve of her dress. "Would you turn into a vampire for me?"

Stefan's eyes widened and she heard his heart beat faster. He didn't answer, he just looked at her. Katherine felt extremely self-conscious, something especially uncomfortable for her because it was so rare. This boy truly did have the power to break her.

At last, he broke the silence. "I hadn't ever thought about it, to be honest," he said. "Why are you asking so suddenly?"

"Considering all that's happening with the Council, and now with Demetri loose…. I could turn you and we could run away together, go somewhere none of it can reach us. Damon and Elena could come too. He was practically insisting I turn him not one hour ago."

There was fear in Stefan's eyes, and it made Katherine feel sick.

"Why are you so afraid?" she said, hating the vulnerability in her voice.

"This isn't what I thought my life would be, Katherine," he said, almost as if he was pleading. He caught her hands in his. "I was going to go to university and be a doctor and marry and become a father."

"I can't give you that life, Stefan," said Katherine. Her throat was tight and painful, and the corners of her eyes prickled. She had to fight the urge to look down at their hands in her lap. "The first time we were together, you said you would love me forever."

"I know that," he said, leaning closer, his grip tightening on her fingers. "In that moment, I couldn't imagine anyone I'd rather have by my side than you, to raise children with and grow old together, maybe spend the afterlife together, if that's how that works. The loss of that dream was a bitter pill to swallow."

"Then—do you not want to be with me?"

"I do! I wouldn't have started this up again if I didn't. And I still can't imagine being with anyone else, even if what I wanted before isn't possible. But I can't trade my dream for yours. At least not right now. Can't we have a middle ground for a while?"

Katherine bit her quivering lip and nodded.

"Can…can I come to your room tonight?" he said hesitantly.

"I don't know," she whispered.

He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead, then got up and left the kitchen. Moments later, the cook emerged from the door leading to the cellar. She was humming to herself, but stopped abruptly when she saw Katherine.

"Anything I can get you, miss?" she asked.

"No thank you," said Katherine, wiping her eyes hastily and leaving through the back door instead of the one that led back into the rest of the house.

—

By the time Johnathan Gilbert reached the barn, Emily was already waiting there for him. "Mr. Gilbert," she greeted. "I was told you wanted to meet with me?"

"I know that you're a witch," he said, without so much as a preliminary how do you do.

Emily looked up at him in surprise, but it quickly subsided into resignation. "I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone found out."

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "Your secret is safe with me. In fact, I wanted to ask you if you would help. I don't know if you're aware, but this town is plagued with vampires."

Emily frowned. "It didn't escape my notice."

"Some of the other men and I have been trying to hunt them down, but more people are dying, and we haven't been able to make much progress. I haven't done nearly as much research on witches as on vampires, but I was hoping you'd be able to help us in some way. You wouldn't have to fight them yourself—I understand you have small children, and I wouldn't want to endanger them by drawing the vampires' attention your way, but if there was anything…? A way to flush them out, at least?"

"I might already have a few ideas," she said.

"Really?" he said eagerly.

"Yes," said Emily. "But the vampires aren't the only ones who could pose a threat to me and mine. If I do this, you'll have to find a way to conceal my hand in it from the men you work with. No one can know of my involvement, living or undead."

"Of course," said Johnathan, nodding. "Then perhaps…" He trailed off thoughtfully.

"Yes?" Emily pressed.

"Most of them know of my fascination with clockwork devices. Perhaps I could pass it off as a feat of science and engineering."

"Spells won't bind to just any materials," said Emily. "If they're going to work properly, you'll need to make them to my specifications. For example, iron and silver are potent metals, but tin and copper are no good."

"Of course. Whatever it takes to put this nightmare to an end."

—

Damon had already checked the kitchen, the study, and the bedrooms upstairs, but Stefan wasn't in any of them. The girls were off hunting—a couple of towns over, just to be safe—, and Damon wanted to take advantage of the lack of prying superhuman ears to talk to his brother. He finally found him in the billiards room, where he was staring broodingly at the green surface of the table, not moving.

"You seem deep in thought, little brother," he said as he picked up a pool cue, positioned it carefully across the table, and broke the rack, sending the balls ricocheting in every direction.

"Will you turn to be with Elena?" Stefan asked.

Damon eyed his brother shrewdly. "Did Katherine ask you to turn for her?" he said. He felt a little surprised; he hadn't really expected her to listen to him. Stefan shot him a look that both answered his question and demanded an answer to his own.

"Yes," he said firmly. "I will turn to be with Elena."

"You say it with such confidence," said Stefan. "Does the thought of becoming something completely different not unsettle you at all?"

"Of course it does," said Damon. "My confidence is all for how I feel about _her_. The prospect of being with her forever far outweighs any potential drawbacks, and I trust her to see me through the worst of them."

Stefan fidgeted with his pool cue, his gaze now on the floor. "You must love her more than I love Katherine, then."

Damon rolled his eyes and took another shot. "I'm twenty-four, Stefan. I've had time to graduate from college and fight in battles, and I've seen and experienced quite a lot in the course of both. You, on the other hand, aren't even finished growing up. Cut yourself some slack."

Judging from Stefan's glum expression, he had no intention of doing that. Damon sighed. "Look," he said, his tone rather somber all of a sudden, "there's no reason you have to make this decision now. I think you proved how much you love her when you forgave her and let her back in, and she's proving far worthier of the second chance with you than I ever would've expected. But the only thing you need to ask yourself right now is this: if it was a choice between dying and becoming a vampire—_today_—which would you choose?"

"I would turn," said Stefan without hesitating.

"Then that's enough. A few years from now, if you and Katherine are still together, you can start asking yourself the harder question."

Stefan nodded, his brow still furrowed, though in a more thoughtful than troubled way now. Damon shot him a grin and gestured at his pool cue. "Now, are you going to stand there all night, or are you going to take a turn?"

—

After another successful hunt with no sign of Demetri anywhere, Elena contentedly allowed Emily to help her into her nightclothes and tie her hair back in a simple braid for the night, smiling at the thought of Damon waiting in the next room for Emily to leave so that he could sneak in.

"I spoke with Johnathan Gilbert this evening," said Emily when she was almost finished with the braid.

"You did?" said Elena, looking at her reflection in the mirror in surprise.

"Yes," said Emily. "He wants me to help him improve the Council's chances against the vampires."

"His inventions," said Elena.

Emily nodded.

"Which means you'll have the spell to send me home soon."

"I think it best we not delay," Emily said. "I have a feeling that eighteen sixty-five is about to become much more dangerous for all of us."

"I know," said Elena. Her heart was heavy. "How long do you think it will be before you can do the spell?"

"I'm not sure, but it won't be long once Mr. Gilbert gives me his devices."

—

Taaroko: Gah, I just love Stefan and Katherine. They were almost making me cry in their scene. And Emily's sure popular in this chapter, isn't she? Everyone wants her for something. I think we've got all the threads from canon 1864-5 tied in now, which means there isn't much left before all the Battle of Willow Creek stuff can happen. I'm excited.

Anglcdmn1986: I actually wanted to give you guys a heads up that while there will be a sequel, I'll be writing it by myself and Taaroko will be acting as beta. I'm with her though—super excited about the Battle of Willow Creek stuff—but since she'll be in graduate school I don't think she'll have much time to do any actual writing. The good news is we have a lot of this planned out already and she might do a little tiny bit of rewriting anyway since I don't think she can help herself :P I loved the scene where Katherine challenged Damon to drink blood from her neck too—she can't help but misbehave herself.


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